Always a part of my family
by jj87
Summary: Based on the London (Brax and Ricky) and Heath/Jess/Bianca story lines with my own twist...and Charlie, THIS IS A CHAX FIC!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I know I said I was getting back to another story but I've had this for a while now. It's based on the London and Heath's baby story lines so I wanted to get it out before it's gone too far and no one remembers them, enjoy.**

**A few things you should know, 1. Brax and Charlie are married but not together, they have two daughters Ruby and Cassie. Cassie is away at Uni and will pop in every now and again.**

**2. Ricky will be shed in new light as portrayed on the show-keeping the story line as close as I can.**

**3. As usual Jack and Peter are Charlie's brothers and Tony her father, except Tony isn't a nice guy...you'll find out why further along. Their mum is alive but not seen much-again, you'll find out further along.**

* * *

Charlie turned off the tv as she heard the door open "hey sweetie, good day at school?" she asked. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily when Ruby began to bang around the kitchen, standing up she walked to the doorway "bad day then?"

"Someone asked me what it was like going to see dad in prison," Ruby muttered.

"Oh," Charlie said "I'm sure she was just curious," she added.

"Why won't he let me see him mum?" she whimpered and turned to face her "I miss him so much can he not see that?"

Charlie walked to her and wrapped her arms around her "your dad loves you very much, this isn't easy for him Rubes. He doesn't want you to see him like that, he doesn't want you to see him in there where he can't even hug you or spend time with you."

Ruby leaned into her "I don't care, I just want to see my dad," she whimpered and burst out crying.

Charlie pulled her closer and held her tight, closing her eyes she cursed Daryl Braxton. She understood that he had to do the right thing, she just wished it didn't affect his daughter so much.

Ruby opened her eyes and shock riddled her body at the person standing by the door watching her with tears in his eyes "dad?" she said shakily.

"I know you miss him sweetie I do too, but you have to understand it's what he wants, it was eating him alive he had to come clean," Charlie said unaware he was behind her.

"No, dad," she said and pushed Charlie off her "you're really here?" she asked running to him.

"Yeah baby, I'm really here," Brax replied and pulled her to him "I've missed you so much," he said and buried his face in her hair as she burst out crying.

Charlie didn't react-she didn't know how to, they'd been in the court room when he was sentenced to ten years…but she still couldn't help the burst of happiness that bolted through her like lightening. Looking away she wiped her tears away her happiness short lived, how on earth is he here?

Ruby pulled back and looked up at him "how are you here? Are you home for good?"

Brax looked over at Charlie "yeah I'm home but we'll talk later, right now I need to talk to your mum can you give us a minute?"

Ruby smiled and hugged him "I've to meet Kyle anyway…love ya dad!" she called as she skipped out the back door.

"Kyle?" Brax asked as soon as she was gone.

Charlie nodded "he was there for her a lot they've grown close…what are you doing here Brax?"

Brax walked to her "I didn't break out if that's what you're thinking…I walked on a technicality," he said and pulled her into a hug.

Charlie sighed with relief and leaned into him "I can't believe you're here," she sniffed.

Brax pulled back and looked down on her "tears from you too?" he chuckled.

"Shut up," she said and pulled him back to her.

Brax rested his cheek on her head "how were the girls while I was away?"

"Cassie was okay, she went back to the city and Uni after a week. Ruby was crushed she started drinking and staying out all night, she was in trouble at school everyday…she was a mess," Charlie replied honestly.

Brax closed his eyes and sighed heavily he never wanted his daughters to have to go through something like this "and none of the boys stepped in?"

"To be honest Brax they were just as bad, I found her and Casey wasted on the beach one night followed by Heath in Angelo's and Kyle in a fight…I've been trying to hold them all together," she replied.

Brax pulled away and led her to the table "where were Ricky and Bianca?"

Charlie's eyes went wide at the mention of Ricky, she'd seen her a few weeks back in the arms of doctor Nate Cooper, when she confronted her she had told her Brax had broken up with her and told her to move on "uh, Bianca's been in the city with the school board trying to arrange for the Mangrove river kids to join summer bay high…Heath wouldn't let me call her."

"And where was Ricky while all this was happening?" He asked "she promised me she'd look out for them."

Charlie sighed he was going to find out eventually "a few weeks after you broke up with her she decided to move out, she found out you'd been transferred and the boys knew about it."

"So she's gone?" Brax asked a little crushed.

"Not exactly…she's with someone else," she said slowly.

Brax nodded and looked down at the table "I did tell her to move on…didn't think she'd abandon the boys though."

Charlie could tell he was crushed that Ricky was with someone else. Their own break up had been mutual and everyone involved was okay with that, they were able to stay friends and remain close but she just didn't want to involve herself in Brax's love life "why don't we round up the family and go have dinner together later?" she asked changing the subject.

Brax nodded "yeah, sounds good, I came to ask you could Rubes stay at mine for a while."

Charlie nodded and stood up "of course, she's missed you I'm sure she'll jump at the chance-but no cutting school Brax you hear me."

"She won't be, I know her exams are coming up," he replied and stood up "so who's Ricky with?"

Charlie sighed and turned back to him "I think you need to find that out from Ricky Brax, it's not my place to say."

Brax nodded and played with his fingers "so it's someone I know?"

Charlie chuckled and kissed him on the cheek "you're not getting anything from me, go see your brothers, do they even know you're home?"

"Nah, here was my first stop, and to call Cassie," Brax replied and walked to the door "let me know what time dinner is."

"Hey Brax," she said and waited for him to turn back "it's great to see you home…I kinda missed you," she smiled.

Brax chuckled and walked back to her "of course you did you love me," he said and kissed her on the forehead "but I missed you too Charlz," he said and walked out the back door.

Charlie sighed and leaned against the counter, tonight should be fun.

* * *

Ruby skipped into Angelo's "hey Ricky," she smiled as she passed her.

"What's got you all happy?" Ruby chuckled.

"Is it true?" Kyle asked running up to her "Case called...is Brax home?"

"Brax is home?" Ricky cut in, to say she was shocked was an understatement.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Kyle, she was happy her dad was home but she also knew Ricky should find out from him "uh, yeah, he just turned up at my house."

"How?" Ricky asked "I mean he got ten years how is this possible?"

"I don't know," Ruby shrugged "he asked me to leave him and mum to talk, all I know is he's not going back…I'm sorry Ricky, if my uncle hadn't such a big mouth my dad would have come seen you himself."

Ricky nodded in a daze she couldn't believe this "you okay Rick?" Kyle asked.

"What?" she asked looking at them "oh yeah, I'm fine, nothing to do with me anymore…I have to go," she said and hurried off.

"Well done genius," Ruby said as they walked to the bar.

"I didn't see her standing there and I am pretty shocked," Kyle replied "I mean we were all there, how did he walk away from this one?"

"I don't know," Ruby replied "but he's home and he's not going anywhere…do you need a hand with anything?"

"Actually I do, Tamara called in she's gonna be late, can you help me set up for the dinner rush?" he asked.

"Sure," Ruby nodded "I'll set the tables," she added and walked by him.

"Put a reserved sign on the big table," Kyle said "your mum just called we're all having dinner at six."

Outside Brax walked off the beach, he was on his way to Angelo's to see how things were when he spotted Ricky hurry from the place. Walking after her he stopped when she stopped to talk to Nate, deciding what he had to say was more important than whatever conversation they were having he started to walk towards them. He stopped again when Nate pulled her to him, he sucked in a deep breath as Ricky titled her head and kissed him.

Shaking his head he watched them kiss before Nate wrapped his arm around her and they started to walk off. Turning back towards Angelo's he punched the fence he couldn't believe she'd moved on so soon-and with the stupid hot new doctor too.

Making his way upstairs he looked around, the place looked like it was doing well Kyle really knew what he was doing-of course he did or he wouldn't have been left in charge. Grabbing a beer he slipped out onto the balcony unnoticed.

Which didn't last too long, Ruby had spotted glasses on the tall tables outside and had come to bring them in when she spotted him leaning over the rail watching something. Looking over she spotted Nate and Ricky having a romantic walk on the beach hand in hand, shaking her head she walked to him "dad?" she asked and leaned on the rail beside him "if it's worth anything she still loves you."

Brax smiled and wrapped his arm around her "you and your sister are the only girls I need in my life," he said and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

Ruby leaned into him she'd missed his hugs so much "dad, can I ask you something?" she asked a few minutes later.

"Sure baby, what's on your mind?" he asked.

"Mum, Ricky, Heath, Case and Kyle all got to see you-Nan did too…why not me and Cassie?" she asked.

Brax turned her to face him "because you're my baby girls and love you too much to have you see me in there," he replied honestly.

"I wouldn't have cared I just wanted to see you," she replied.

"Well I did care, I couldn't looking at your broken faces or your tears knowing I put this all on you…you're my babies and I'll protect you until the day I die," Brax said seriously.

"Did you not miss me?" she whimpered.

"Of course I did sweetie, so much," he said and pulled her back to him "the only picture I had with me was one of you and Cassie, I looked at it for hours every night just wondering what you were doing, hoping you were doing okay."

"I coped," Ruby sighed.

"By what? Getting wasted and skipping school?" he asked raising an eyebrow "yeah, mum told me all about that," he chuckled when she began to panic "and we are gonna talk about all that stuff, just not tonight," he said and kissed her on the head "I better see Kyle before he snaps that bar in two," he said and walked inside.

Ruby turned and watched Kyle hurry around the bar and hug Brax surprised when Brax didn't shove him off, he never let anyone other than her and Cassie hug him-or Charlie…which was weird, she'd never even seen him hug Ricky.

Walking inside she smiled as Charlie walked in with Heath and Bianca "hey guys," she said happily.

"That is the smile right there," Bianca chuckled "the smile my husband has being wearing since Casey called…where is he?" she asked looking around.

"He just went out back with Kyle, he should be back in a sec," Ruby replied and led them to the table "I'll go let them know you're here…and just a heads up, dad saw Ricky with Nate," she said and walked off.

"Dad, mum Uncle Heath and Bianca are here," she said sticking her head into the kitchen.

"Case and Cheryl will be here any second," Kyle added.

"Let's go get this party started then," Brax said and walked out to meet them.

* * *

A while after dinner everyone decided to stay for a few drinks, Charlie noticed Brax slip off from the group. Standing up she walked back to his office and walked in "knew you'd be in here," she said and closed the door.

Brax smiled quickly and sat up properly "just wanted a few minutes alone," he replied.

"You're not moping over Ricky are you?" she asked dropping onto the desk.

"Well I did tell her to forget about me and it did kinda suck to see her with the doc," he said and grabbed her hand "but I'm so glad I still have you."

"Brax you need to give her some time, like you said you told her to forget about you, all she's trying to do is move on with her life, just go talk to her tomorrow" Charlie replied and stood up "come on and stop moping you owe me a few drinks."

Brax followed her and wrapped his arms around her "what would I do without you eh?" he asked as he walked her to the bar.

"What did I tell you about groping mum in public dad," Ruby groaned "it's weird you're not even together anymore."

"Hey, you're both single," Heath chuckled "and married to each other, I say go for it mate."

"Heath!" Ruby squealed.

Brax chuckled "don't worry Rubes me and your mum won't be going there again," he said and looked at Heath "and what have I told you about saying things like that in front of my daughter?"

"She's sixteen it's not like she doesn't know what sex is," Heath replied.

"And you won't again if you don't shut up," Bianca said narrowing her eyes at him.

Charlie laughed and pulled away from Brax "one more drink then I have to head, I have the early tomorrow."

"Ah call in sick Charlie," Casey said "we're gonna be here all night."

"No you're not," Brax cut in "you and Ruby have school tomorrow and so does Bianca, we'll wrap this up after this drink," he said and went behind the bar.

"Can we have tomorrow off dad?" Ruby asked "this is a pretty special occasion."

"You're going, I'll still be here when you get home," Brax replied "you can't miss school you have exams-either of you," he added when Casey laughed.

"You suck," Ruby mumbled.

"I heard that," Brax said "maybe I wont suck so much when you see where I'm taking you tomorrow," he winked and walked off.

After finishing her drink Charlie bid goodnight to everyone and decided to walk home along the beach. When she got to the strip she found Brax sitting in the sand looking out to the water "hey," she said stopping in front of him.

"Hey," he replied "you're going home?" he asked.

Charlie nodded "I'm up at six," she replied and sat beside him "have you been out on it yet?" she asked nodding to the water.

"Nope, waiting until tomorrow so Rubes can come with me…where is she by the way?" he asked.

"She insisted on staying at yours so Casey and Kyle walked her home to get her stuff," Charlie replied.

Brax nodded and lifted up a bottle "you want some?" he asked.

Charlie saw the bottle was half gone and sighed "no and either do you," she said taking it from him "you've had enough," she added and poured it into the sand. "Come on," she said and stood up "you can walk me home."

"That was top notch stuff," Brax said and stood up "you're lucky I love you."

"You'll thank me tomorrow," she said seriously and started to walk "I know everything is a mess now Brax and you miss Ricky, your head is all over the place, but please don't turn to drink it doesn't solve anything."

"Oi," he said pulling her back "I'm just letting off some steam, my girls are all that matters to me."

"Like you did when all that stuff with Adam came about?" she asked.

"That was different," he shot back "Heath could have died-I could have died."

"All I'm saying is remember how it turned out last time, Ruby refused to see you for weeks then she was riddled with guilt when we were by your bedside. Cassie was just as bad because she thought you were gonna die with her last words to you being I hate you…I don't want them getting hurt again they've been through so much already," Charlie said as they walked up her drive.

"Charlie," he said and turned her to face him "my daughters comes first, I will put them above all else you don't gotta worry okay," he said and pushed some hair behind her ear "it's been a few hours I'm still tryna adjust."

Charlie nodded and stepped away from him "just so you know I'm always here."

"I know you are," he smiled "anyway, get to bed, I'll see you tomorrow," he said and walked off.

"Hey Brax!" she called "you got time for a coffee?"

Brax chuckled and walked back to her "is this your way of saying you wanna spend some time with me?"

Charlie shrugged and walked into her house "you missed a lot of coffee mornings."

Brax walked in and leaned on the counter beside her as she made coffee "well they're back on, and we've plenty more to come," he said and took a cup from her "so I haven't seen James around, something going on there?"

Charlie's face went blank turning her back on him she started to wipe down the counter "he moved to Melbourne."

Brax choked on his coffee "what?" he asked wide eyed "Charlie why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you had enough going on with your trial and I had the girls to think about," she shot back.

"That long?" he yelled "Charlie that was over six months ago."

"Yeah so I've had time to get over it," she said and sat down "I'm fine Brax alright, no need to make a big deal out of it."

Brax shook his head and sat beside her "so what have I missed?" he asked changing the subject.

* * *

The next morning Brax spotted Ricky sitting alone on the beach, looking around to make she no one was around he made his way to her "hey," he said waiting for her to look up.

"So it is true then," she said and looked out to the water "you're back for good?"

"Yeah," he said and sat beside her "someone else confessed to Johnny Barrett's murder and brought them to the body…you know anything about that?"

Ricky shrugged "I went to see Adam, he told me Johnny Barrett was still alive when he told you to take off…I asked him to do the right thing and he refused, so I thought that was it you were gone away for a long time."

"So you jump into bed with the nearest bloke?" Brax asked bitterly.

Ricky snapped her head to him "you don't get to be angry about it Brax!" she hissed and stood up "you were the one that broke up with me even after I said I'd wait for you. You were the one that told me you didn't want to see me again."

"Rick, I'm sorry," he said and jumped up "I have no right to be angry at you, letting you go was the biggest mistake I ever made."

"Well it's a mistake you're gonna have to live with!" Ricky hissed I'm happy with Nate now and guess what!" she yelled "he's so much better than you! He's drama free, he tells me things, he shares his feelings with me! You and I are done, we're in the past…too much has happened since you went away, it's best we leave it as it is."

"But I still love you Ricky," Brax sighed "that's gotta count for something."

"Yeah, well, you should have thought about that before you broke my heart…leave me alone Brax, I was happy before you came back please leave me to get on with it," she said and hurried off.

"Ricky!" Brax called after her, when she didn't stop or answer him he sighed heavily and dropped into the sand what now? He asked himself, he'd done what Charlie had said, he'd given her time to get her around him being back, what else was there to do?

Charlie stood not far away, having seen Ricky storm off she knew it didn't go well. Looking down at the coffee she'd grabbed on her break she made her way to him and sat down beside him without a word.

Brax glanced at her as she held out her coffee, taking it from her he took a sip and lay back on his elbows "I've lost her Charlie."

"Maybe she needs more time," Charlie suggested.

"She told me she was happy with Nate and to leave her alone," he said.

"Oh," Charlie said and looked around she really didn't know what to say "I'm sorry Brax," she said placing her hand on top of his "maybe she's still angry at you…give her a bit more time to calm down and think about what she wants."

Brax sighed heavily and stood up "you should get back to work," he said handing her back her coffee.

"I'm in no hurry," she replied.

Brax smiled and pulled her to her feet "you don't have to worry about me Charlie, I'm a big boy I'll be fine."

Charlie chuckled and brushed herself down "but I do worry…I'll call you later," she smiled and walked off towards her car.

"Hey Charlie!" he called and jogged after her "can I come over later?"

"Sure," she nodded "you know you can come over whenever you want."

"No I meant can I come over to see you?" he asked.

Charlie blew out a breath "Brax if you think sleeping with me will take yo-"

"No, no," he cut in "I meant because my house is so full and I need a time out."

"Oh," Charlie chuckled "yeah that's fine I'll be home round six if you wanna have dinner with us then we can watch a movie or something."

"You the best," Brax said and kissed her on the cheek "I'll see ya later," he said and took off.

As soon as he was gone Charlie pulled out her phone and called Bianca "hey B," she said happily "listen I'm gonna have to cancel tonight, something came up in work I have to stay back. I'm free now if you wanna grab lunch, cool, I'll meet you at the diner say ten minutes? Okay bye," she said and hung up. She hated lying to Bianca but when it came to her and Brax Bianca always said they were still in love with one another and would question her.

Walking along the beach back to her car Charlie saw Ricky sitting behind one of the boats "hey," she said walking to her "everything okay?"

"Yeah, if that husband of yours would leave me alone!" she snapped.

"Okay," Charlie said slowly "forget I asked," she said and went to walk off.

"Charlie wait I'm sorry," Ricky said and stood up "I'm just all over the place."

"Feel like talking?" she asked.

Ricky sighed "it's all just thrown into a tailspin since Brax came back…I don't know what I want now."

"You still love him," Charlie said "you're bound to be confused and angry."

"He let me go I owe him nothing," Ricky said quickly.

"No you don't," Charlie agreed "but this is hard for him too Ricky, I'm not saying you owe him an explanation but you should talk to him about Nate…how would you feel if you came back to see him with another woman?"

Ricky scoffed "I had to put up with you and your weird relationship, and your kids there all the time for almost a year, what difference would another woman make?"

"I asked you had you a problem with that and you said you were fine with it," Charlie said angrily.

"Please," Ricky laughed "I only said that because he flat out said he'd never divorce you it was the only way to keep him…I didn't think you'd be dumping your kids on us all the time to hook up with a guy. Brax is still in love with you it pissed him off every time you went with James…you know what," she said smartly "why don't you two get back together that'll solve everything!"

"Excuse me!" Charlie yelled "get you shit together and stop taking it out on the people that are actually trying to help!" she yelled and walked off in a very bad mood.

* * *

Later that evening Charlie Brax and Ruby had just finished dinner "like old times," Ruby smiled.

"Yeah it was," Brax smiled and looked over at Charlie "are you okay? You've barely said anything since I got here."

"What? Sorry, yeah I'm fine, I just have a headache," she lied.

"You sure that's all it is mum?" Ruby asked "you have your pissed off but trying to hide it face on."

"I'm fine," Charlie chuckled "I'll bring the plates in if you two wanna move to the sofa."

"Actually," Ruby said and stood up "I'm staying at April's tonight, we have an assignment due tomorrow that Zak only reminded us about today."

"But your dad has come over to spend some time with you," Charlie said.

"I know and I really wish I could stay but I have to get this done…you understand dad right?" she asked looking at Brax.

"I do, school comes first," he said and started to help Charlie clear away "do you need a ride over?" he asked.

"Thanks but I'm meeting her at the diner so I'll just walk…bye!" she called on her way out.

Brax walked into the kitchen and placed the plates down beside Charlie "now that she's gone you wanna tell me what's really bothering you?"

"It's nothing," Charlie sighed "I just had a run in with Ricky earlier, it's fine," she said and went to walk off.

"Oi, hold up," he said pulling her back "what do you mean a run in?"

Charlie groaned this is why she didn't want to get involved "I saw her after you left she was upset so I asked her if she wanted to talk."

"Okay, and?" he asked.

"And she flipped," Charlie replied "she said when you were together I was always dumping the girls on you-she basically called me a bad mother."

"She what?" he yelled and made a move for the door.

"Brax don't," she said and followed him "if you go over there yelling you'll never get her back."

"No one is going to speak to you like that-not even her!" he yelled angrily.

"Brax come back inside, you know you'll only make things worse!" she called after him.

Brax walked back to her "you're right, of course you're right," he said and sat at the table "what else did she say?"

"Let's just forget about it and stick on a movie," Charlie replied.

"You can dodge it now but you know I'll be back," he said and went to the living room.

Charlie followed him and sat beside him "alright, lets get this out of the way now then."

"What else did she say to you?"

"I asked her to come talk to you about what's going on with Nate, I asked her how would she feel if it were the other way around…then she went on about us," Charlie said.

"Us?" he asked raising an eyebrow "what did she say about us?"

"She was never happy with how close we were…she said she only told you she was fine with it because you told her we'd never divorce and she wanted to be with you."

"I told her from the start that would never happen," he sighed "she knew what she was letting herself in for," Brax replied "is that all she said?"

"No," Charlie chuckled "she said you were still in love with me and you were pissed off every time I went to meet James…and we should just get back together."

"She said I was still in love with you?" Brax asked surprised.

"Yep, I think she just said all that because she needed to let her anger out on someone," Charlie said and grabbed the remote "she's more messed up than she's letting on, just leave it now I'm sure she'll be apologising tomorrow."

"Yeah maybe," he replied and looked to the tv "what are we watching?"

"Not really bothered, you pick," Charlie replied.

"Me either," he said and took the remote from her "we'll just watch this then," he said leaving on the first thing that came on.

A while later Brax looked over at Charlie, since he'd turned on the tv they'd both been silent and lost in their own thoughts "hey," he said nudging her "what happened with you and James?"

Charlie looked over at the tv and sighed, he was the last person she wanted to know about what happened "nothing, it just wasn't working out and he got a new job so he left."

"Charlie, I know when you're keeping something from me, what really happened?" he asked scooting closer to her.

"I said nothing," she huffed and stood up "why are you so worried about me? Shouldn't you be worrying about getting Ricky back?"

Brax sighed and followed her to the kitchen now he definitely knew she was keeping something from him "because I care about you and I want to know what happened."

"Well I am fine like I've said, we broke up Brax it happens," she said as she moved about the kitchen.

Brax pulled his phone out as it beeped and read the text, sighing he shoved it back into his pocket and grabbed his keys "I have to go to Angelo's Kyle needs me to sign stuff."

Charlie nodded and turned to face him "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yes Brax I'm fine…go," she said nodding to the door.

"Alright, we'll talk tomorrow," he said and kissed her on the forehead before slipping out the door.

Charlie threw the towel down and sighed heavily-he could not find out about what happened.

* * *

Arriving at Angelo's Brax found Ruby at one of the table alone with her school work out "hey baby," he said and sat beside her "I thought you were going to April's."

"I was, I got there and Bianca was crying and freaking out so I said I'd leave them to it, I'll be going back to yours is that okay? I've already called mum."

Brax nodded and stood up "I just have to do a few things here then I'll take you over."

"Thanks dad," she smiled and went back to her project.

Brax walked into the kitchen to find Kyle clearing up "what do you need me to sign?" he asked.

"A few holiday slips and Ben needs a reference for his new job, he asked if you'd sign it" Kyle answered.

Brax nodded "are they on the desk?" he asked, Kyle nodded and went back to cleaning "hey Kyle," he said and walked back to him "you were around Charlie's house a lot while I was away?"

"Yeah, almost everyday…why?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"So you saw James around a lot?"

Kyle's face went the way Charlie's had "uh, no, not really, he was there the odd time…I have to take the bins out," he said and went to walk by him.

"No you don't," Brax said and pulled him back "Charlie had the same look on her face when I asked about him, what's going on?"

Kyle pulled his arm away and walked to the door "I don't know what you're talking about…the guy moved away that's all I know," he added and walked off.

Brax sighed what the hell was going on? Going to his office he did the paperwork and walked back to Ruby "ready to go Rubes?" he asked.

"Yep," she said and followed him out the door.

When they arrived at Brax's place Casey was watching tv, Brax walked by him without a word. "Hey Case," Ruby said and dropped her bag.

"Hey Rubes," he replied "what's up with him?"

"I don't know," Ruby said watching him bang about the kitchen "but I'll find out," she added and walked into him. "Dad what's going on?"

Brax looked over at her, if anyone would know it would be her, he really didn't want to drag her into this though-but he had to find out what happened "why is everyone acting weird when I mention James? See," he said pointing to her face "that's he face I'm getting off everyone I ask…what happened?"

"Then don't ask," Ruby shrugged and walked by him, she knew Charlie told her not to ever tell him but the guy was a jerk and Brax deserved to know-she still couldn't tell him though he'd hit the roof and go off like a crazy person.

"Something happened Rubes I know it did, and I know you Kyle and your mum know about it," he said and followed her.

"Look dad, Mum's moved on it's not a big deal anyway…I have to finish my assignment," she said and hurried off to her room.

Brax went to follow her but stopped when the front door opened and a panicked Heath burst in "what the hell is wrong with you?" he asked.

"Bianca? Have you seen Bianca?" he asked quickly.

"No," Brax said slowly "you two fighting?" he asked remembering Ruby had said she was upset.

"No," Heath huffed and dropped onto the arm of the sofa "guess who turned up at my door this avo."

"Who?" Brax asked walking to him.

"The chick from Melbourne," Heath sighed.

"What did she want?" Casey asked.

"What did she want mate?" Brax asked when he didn't answer.

Heath stood up and began to pace "she's eight and a half months pregnant."

Brax stared at Heath and shook his head "you're a moron, I told you that would come back to bite you," he said and walked to sit beside Casey "Bianca knows then?"

Heath nodded "she knocked and I didn't know Bianca was behind me."

"Is that what all that yelling was about a while ago?" Casey asked.

Brax looked over at Casey for a second then back to Heath "how did she know where you lived?"

Heath shrugged "I wasn't really worried about that I was too busy trying to get her away from the house," he sighed "what will I do now?"

Brax stood up and walked to his phone "I don't know mate, maybe leave her to calm down for the night," he said and walked into the kitchen with his phone to his ear. "Charlie?" he asked when she answered "I need you to do me a favour."

"I can't tonight Brax, I'm here with Bianca she's a real mess, I can't leave her," Charlie replied.

"That's actually what I was gonna ask you to do, Heath turned up here too…how she doing?" he asked.

"Well she's not taking it well that's for sure…what the hell was he thinking?" she sighed.

"I know," he replied "don't let her do anything rash, I'll keep him away for the night…call me later and let me know how she is."

"Will do….tell Heath to sort it out fast I saw this Jess girl hanging around the diner, she doesn't look like she's going anywhere," she said.

Brax frowned "how do you know her or what she even looks like?"

"Because she looked lost and I asked her was she okay, when she mentioned Heath's name I said I was his sister-in-law," she replied.

"So you told her where he lived?" he sighed.

"No, I told her Bianca was my best friend and she'd better not mess with my family…and to leave town."

"That's my girl," Brax chuckled "anyway, I let you go, I'll talk to you later," he said and hung up.

Charlie sat down and sighed "I'm not your girl anymore," she muttered to herself, standing up she threw down her phone and walked back into Bianca.

**A/N So that was the first chapter, slow build up I know but I'm trying to explain everything before the real drama starts…hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review ****J**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey all, thanks for the reviews/follows and favs, maybe I should have been a bit more clearer in my summary…THIS IS A CHAX STORY! ROMANCE IS ON THE CARDS FOR OUR FINEST COUPLE!**

The next morning Charlie yawned as she walked along the beach, she'd been up all night with Bianca thanking god when she finally fell asleep at four am. Looking ahead of her she frowned as a girl walked towards her waving, lifting her sunglasses to her head she squinted "Cass?" she called and started to walk again.

"Hey mum!" she called and started to run to her.

"Hey sweetie," she replied and wrapped her up in a hug "what are you doing home?"

"My dad is home, I couldn't come yesterday because I had three exams…I'm here for the weekend," Cassie replied.

Charlie nodded and took one of her bags from her "fancy breakfast with mum or do you wanna go straight to your dad's?"

Cassie looked down at her watch "I got the early bus so I got time," she said and started to walk up the strip "how's dad doing now he's out?" she asked.

"He's okay apart from seeing Ricky and Nate with each other," Charlie replied.

Cassie scoffed she never got along with Ricky, what happened with her brother and Brax didn't help either "he was always too good for the scheming cow anyway, good riddance I say."

Charlie chuckled "be nice Cass, he's trying to get her back so don't go bad mouthing her in front of him."

"She's an idiot," she sighed "she thought she owned him and expected him to do everything she said, he deserves better than her…hey Leah," she smiled and hugged her.

"Hey Cass, we weren't expecting you till next week," Leah said.

"Either was I," Charlie chuckled "can I get pancakes and a coffee please and whatever she wants," she added.

"Pancakes too please Leah," Cassie said and walked to a table.

"Let me guess," Leah chuckled "she came because daddy was home?"

Charlie nodded "she's not impressed with Ricky so let's hope they don't bump into each other."

"She's nineteen Charlie no girl that age wants to see her dad with someone else…I'll bring your food over," she said quickly as Nate stopped beside them.

"Morning," Charlie smiled and walked to her table.

"Morning," he replied and ordered, after he had he walked to her "Charlie, Ricky told me what happened yesterday so I just want to say sorry on her behalf, she was shocked and angry she wasn't herself."

"What happened yesterday?" Cassie asked curiously.

"Nothing," Charlie said and looked up at him "you don't have to apologise for her, but thank you anyway."

Nate nodded "well I'm sorry she said all that to you anyway," he said and walked off.

"What did she say mum?" Cassie asked.

"It's fine alright," Charlie replied "don't worry about it, let's just enjoy our breakfast," she added when Leah placed plates down.

Cassie picked up her fork and started to cut into her pancakes "I guess I'll just have to ask her then."

"Cassie I said leave it okay," Charlie sighed "I've dealt with it already…eat your food."

…

A while later Charlie took Cassie's bags home so she could go straight to Brax's. Arriving at the house she let herself in rolling her eyes at the unlocked door, walking to Brax's room she tipped it in and stuck her head in. Smiling at him asleep on top of his covers with Ruby wrapped around him she walked to the bed and kicked off her shoes, climbing on his free side she lay her head on his chest and smiled again when his arm came down around her.

"Cass?" he asked sleepily.

"Hey daddy," she whispered "go back asleep," she said and closed her eyes.

Brax chuckled and dropped a kiss on her forehead "hey baby," he said pulling her closer.

"I missed you," she said and tilted her head "I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too," he smiled "it's really great to see you," he yawned.

Cassie chuckled and lay her head down again "we can talk later," she said and closed her eyes again.

An hour later Heath came in and frowned at the quietness, he knew Ruby was here so he expected her and Casey to be on the sofa yelling at the game they normally played. Walking to Casey's room he stuck his head in to see an empty room, moving to Kyle's room he found it the same way. Walking to Brax's room he stuck his head in and chuckled, walking to the end of the bed he pulled out his phone and took a photo. Walking back out he sent the picture to Charlie, shut the door behind him and walked to the kitchen, sitting down he sighed Bianca was still ignoring him he needed to talk to Brax about what to do next.

A while later Brax opened his eyes and looked down on his two girls still sleeping, smiling he dropped a kiss on both their heads-this was what life was all about.

Ruby stirred and rolled off him "best sleep ever," she giggled and looked over at Cassie "when did she get here?"

"A while ago," Brax replied "what do you say we wake her and go for a surf?"

"I'm in," Cassie said and sat up "hey Rubes," she added.

"What are you doing home?" she asked "we weren't expecting you."

"Is no one happy to see me?" Cassie chuckled "I got the same off mum and Leah."

"You've seen mum?" Brax asked.

Cassie nodded "she was on the beach this morning, she looked wrecked like she hadn't slept at all."

Brax sighed "you can blame your stupid uncle for that, Bianca was there upset last night."

"What did he do now?" Cassie sighed.

"They had a fight," Brax replied, the girls didn't know what had happened in Melbourne and he wasn't going to tell them "let them sort it out," he said and walked out of the room.

"He still thinks we don't know?" Cassie asked.

Ruby nodded "apart from Case they all do," she said and walked out after him.

"My perfect family," Cassie sighed and followed them.

* * *

As Cassie walked back to Charlie later that day with Ruby she spotted Ricky and Nate walking towards them. She scoffed and rolled her eyes "didn't take you long to move on," she said once they were close enough.

Ricky pulled her hand from Nate's "your dad broke up with me Cassie I am entitled to move on."

"And rub it in his face everyday?" she snapped "are you that heartless?"

"Cass, leave it," Ruby said placing her hand on her arm.

"No I won't leave it," she yelled and pulled her arm away "after everything he did for you! After letting you move in because you had nowhere to go even after your psycho brother tried to kill him, you'd get with him right after he went to prison?"

"Now you listen here!" Ricky yelled and took a step forward "you don't know what happened between me and your dad!"

"And I don't care! He's better off without you! You've brought nothing but trouble for this family since the day you arrived!" she yelled. "And if you open your mouth to my mum again I'll slap you so hard you won't know what hit you! You better hope she's not playing you too," she said to Nate and brushed by them.

"Uh…sorry," Ruby said "she's still a little angry about everything," she added.

"Oh shut up you!" Ricky snapped "daddy's little princesses! You two were always causing trouble between me and Brax."

"Ricky!" Nate yelled "don't take it out on her…I'm so sorry Ruby," he said taking a step closer to her.

Ruby nodded and looked beyond them to see Charlie glaring at Ricky "not as sorry as she's about to be," she said and hurried by them "mum just le-"

"Go wait in the car!" Charlie cut in angrily and stormed to Ricky "I don't care what she said to you or whatever happened between you and Brax! You have no right to speak to my daughters like that!"

"Charlie, I'm sorry," she sighed "I didn't m-"

"They're kids! My kids!" Charlie yelled cutting her off "you speak to either of them like that again and I won't hold back!" she hissed and spun around "you wanna take it out on someone go see Brax!" she called as she stormed away.

"Go mum," Cassie chuckled as she hurried by them.

"I told you not to start anything didn't I?" she yelled "and didn't I tell you to wait in the car?"

"I was afraid things would get out of hand," Ruby said as she ran to catch up with her.

Charlie spun to face them "no one likes what's happened! But we have to deal with it, you," she said pointing at Cassie "grow up! Dad's not with Ricky anymore, that's what you always wanted, stay away from her-no more smart remarks." Turning to Ruby she sighed "you should have pulled her away and she wouldn't have said anything to either of you!"

"I think mum needs time to calm down," Cassie said tugging Ruby backwards "we'll see you for dinner," she added and pulled her away.

….

A while later Brax walked into the diner to see Charlie playing with a sugar packet "you look refreshing," he chuckled and sat beside her "what's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing," she sighed "I'm just tired."

"Funny," he chuckled "I have two teenagers hiding out at my house."

"I went crazy and yelled at them," she replied and looked up at him "what's the stupid grin for?"

He smiled wider "Ricky called, she wants to meet me to talk about everything…what happened with the girls."

Charlie nodded "nothing, I was up all night with Bianca I'm just tired and took it out on them…what about Nate?" she asked curiously.

Brax shrugged "she was only on the phone for a minute, I'm supposed to be meeting her here," he said and looked around.

Charlie nodded again "I'll get out of your hair then," she said and stood up just as Ricky stopped by the table "Ricky," she greeted.

"Charlie," she replied and glanced at Brax to see had she told him.

Charlie leaned over and grabbed her phone from the table "better go find my girls and apologise for taking the head off them."

"What did they do?" Brax asked before she could move.

"Oh nothing, they were just bickering with each other," she lied. "Like I said I'm up all night…see ya later," she said and hurried off.

Brax watched her go and looked up at Ricky "what did you wanna talk about?"

Ricky sat down "I don't know exactly," she said and looked over at him "to start off, why did you break up with me?"

Brax sighed and slid his hands onto hers "I wanted you to live your life without worrying about me, I didn't want you coming to see me day after day and that being your life."

"Brax, I would have waited for you I loved you, I wanted more than anything to be there for you."

"I know and I wanted you to be there too but I was getting transferred, I didn't even know where I was going they wouldn't tell me in case Heath and the others tried to break me out…I'm sorry," he said. "I wanted you to make your own life-make something of yourself, I didn't want you thinking what could have been if you did stick around waiting on me."

Ricky scooted closer to him "I would have been right there beside them…I love you Brax, I'd wait fifty years if you asked me to."

"What about Nate?" he asked.

Rocky pulled her hands away "I need to go home and talk to him, it's not him I want," she said and stood up "but I need time Brax, I don't want you hassling me."

Brax nodded and stood up "you won't hear from me until you come see me…I love you Ricky, don't forget that."

Ricky couldn't help herself, leaning up on her toes she kissed him "I love you too…see ya," she said and hurried away.

* * *

Later that night Cassie Casey Ruby and Kyle were all watching a movie when someone knocked at the door. "Cass, you're closest," Kyle said nudging her.

"I don't even live here," she chuckled and pulled it open, her face dropped "what are you doing here?"

"Is your dad here?" Ricky asked nervously, just because Charlie hadn't told him didn't mean the girls wouldn't.

"No, he's at work…what do you want?" she asked "I'm pretty sure you took all your stuff when you took off."

Ricky held back her anger "I just needed to talk to him," she said and took a step back "Cassie I'm sorry about what happened this morning-what I said."

Cassie looked behind her to see the others were still focused on the movie, she stepped out and closed the door over "I didn't hear what you said to Ruby this morning or I'd have slapped you one," she said seriously. "You and my dad have broken up, it's time for us all to move on, you stay out of my way and away from my dad and I'll stay out of yours," she said and went back inside.

Ricky sighed and walked to her car she was here to tell Brax she wanted to be with him again, how fun would that be when they told the girls?

Down at Angelo's Brax walked out of the back to see Charlie at the bar alone "that bad of a day?" he asked.

"No, I'm referee," she replied nodding behind her.

Brax looked to a table to see Heath Bianca and Jess "how's that going?" he asked leaning on the bar closer to her.

"Well she hasn't smacked either of them so that's good," she chuckled "how did your talk go with Ricky?"

"Yeah good, did you find the girls?" he asked.

Charlie nodded "yeah, we're fine…is that all you're gonna give me on the Ricky thing?"

"I'll call over later and fill you in, your brothers just got here," he said and nodded behind her before walking off out back again.

Charlie looked behind her and smiled as they made their way to her "how was the fishing trip?"

"Hello lil sis," Peter chuckled and hugged her "and yeah it was good…no injuries this time."

"Hey Charlz," Jack said and hugged her "what have we missed?"

"Well that," Charlie said nodding to Brax as he walked out again "that," she added nodding to the table behind her "and Cassie's here for the weekend."

"No way!" Jack yelled and walked to him "alright mate, so good to see you home," he said and clapped him on the back "you're home for good right?"

Brax chuckled "I am mate."

"You can join us for drinks and catch up," Peter said pulling him over to them.

Ricky walked in and stopped at the sight of him laughing and joking with Charlie and her brothers "that damn family," she muttered and hurried outside.

Brax saw her walk out and went to follow her but stopped himself and turned to Charlie…having no idea why.

….

After close Brax locked up and walked to his car to find Ricky leaning against it "bit late for you to be hanging about," he said and leaned on it beside her.

Ricky looked over at him "I came to tell you I wanna be with you but you were too busy with your friends."

Brax moved and walked in front of her "you could have pulled me away you know."

Ricky shrugged and looked away "didn't want to interrupt, I know Jack and Peter are just home."

Brax tugged her chin back to him "they would have understood so…" he trailed off.

"So I broke up with Nate and told him I was in love with you and I wanted to be with you," she replied.

He nodded "and how'd he take it?"

Ricky chuckled "not that you care, but he took it well, he said he knew it was going to happen if you ever came home."

"What now?" Brax asked "do we have to start off with a first date and all that?"

"No," Ricky said and pulled him by his shirt "we start off in the back of this car," she said and kissed him hard.

Brax deepened the kiss and felt around for the door handle at last, things were falling into place he thought as he guided her into the backseat.

When he arrived home alone he walked into the kitchen with a massive smile on his face. They had agreed Ricky would move back in tomorrow after they'd spoken to the girls and his brothers.

"You're late tonight," came a voice from the table.

He turned around to see Cassie with books laid out in front of her "what are you doing up so late?"

"I have my final exams this week, I can't study when I'm trying to catch up with everyone down here," she replied.

Brax sat beside her "your exams are more important sweetie, you only have a week left then you'll be home you can catch up with everyone then."

"I know," she nodded "I just miss everyone when I'm gone, I don't get home as much as I should with my job and all."

"We miss you too baby," he said and dropped a kiss on her forehead "but you're growing up you have to do what's best for you, and acing these exams is what's best for you."

"Why are you so happy?" she asked "you keep smiling," she added.

Brax smiled again "me and Rick talked," he said and leaned closer to her "we were gonna tell you lot tomorrow but since you're up…we're back together, she's moving back in tomorrow," he said happily.

Cassie felt like someone had slapped her "I'm sorry what?" she said after about five minutes.

"We're back together, we've sorted everything out," he said

Cassie stood up and shook her head "oh dad, you're such an idiot," she said and walked off.

"Cass?" he called after her confused, he thought she's at least pretend to be happy for him.

"Night dad!" she called and slammed her bedroom door.

* * *

The next morning Cassie sat at the table looking into her coffee, Brax walked out of his room and stopped when he spotted her "morning baby," he said cautiously.

"Morning," she muttered and stood up when someone knocked at the door.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

Cassie opened the door to revel Ricky, looking at Brax she raised an eyebrow "I think it's best we don't don't you?" she asked and walked by her out the door.

"What's wrong with her?" Ricky asked walking to him.

"She's just stressed about her final exams…hi," he said and kissed her.

"Oh my god!" Ruby shrieked from behind them.

Brax pulled away and looked at her "Rubes, I can explain, we were gonna tell you all together."

Ruby held her hand up "I better get home, my exams start tomorrow," she said and grabbed her bag before hurrying out the door.

"Damn it," Brax sighed and leaned against the counter.

"Do you want to go after them?" Ricky asked a few minutes later.

"No," he sighed "they both have exams I can't have them all worked up," he said and looked towards the bedrooms as Casey and Kyle appeared laughing.

Both stopped when they spotted Ricky "uh…hey, Ricky," Casey said breaking the silence.

"Hey Case," she smiled "hey Kyle," she added.

"Hey," he said and looked at Brax raising an eyebrow.

"Me and Rick are back together…she'll be moving back in today," Brax said.

Kyle nodded and grabbed his keys "better go open up," he said and disappeared out the door.

Casey walked out the door and grabbed his board "later guys!" he called as he walked after Kyle.

Brax shook his head and looked back at Ricky "I told you this wasn't gonna be easy."

Ricky walked to him and kissed him "I don't care, they'll come around…I'm not going anywhere."

Brax pulled her closer and deepened the kiss "no you're not," he murmured as he pulled away.

"You two back on? Alright," Heath chuckled.

"At least someone is happy about it," Brax chuckled.

"Case and Kyle acting like girls and take off?" he asked and sat beside them.

Brax nodded "and my daughters," he sighed.

"Brax if you wanna go talk to them I don't mind," Ricky said.

Brax shook his head "they'll be back later they're staying here, Cassie is getting the early bus back to the city."

"Why Don't you drive her up Brax then you guys can talk," Heath suggested "no offence Rick, but Cass has always had a problem with you so she'll be the hardest."

Ricky nodded "that's a good idea, Ruby was just caught off guard I'm sure she'll be fine when she comes back later."

Brax nodded again and stood up " we'll see, I'll talk to them later…I'm gonna grab a shower then we can head out!" he called back.

….

Over at Charlie's she jumped when the back door slammed and the girls could be heard yelling, grabbing a hoodie she ran down the stairs.

"Why didn't you tell him what she said to you?" Cassie yelled.

"I didn't exactly hang around to talk! Why didn't you?" Ruby yelled back.

"Hey!" Charlie cut in before Cassie could reply "what's going on here?"

"Dad's back with that tool!" Cassie yelled.

"I walked out on them kissing this morning so it' official," Ruby said.

Charlie groaned now knowing why Brax never came over last night "please don't tell me you two just took off?"

"What did you expect us to do?" Cassie asked "dad knows I've no time for her, I wasn't gonna sit there drinking tea with her."

Charlie sighed heavily "I expect you to be happy for your dad and be nice for his sake, you know he loves her and wanted her back."

Cassie scoffed "after what she said to you and Rubes no way," she said and walked out of the kitchen.

"Mum?" Ruby asked "you've seen dad since it happened?"

Charlie nodded "yeah, why?"

"Why didn't you tell him?" she asked curiously.

"Because I knew there'd be a chance they'd get back together…he doesn't need to know," Charlie added and walked out of the kitchen.

Ruby nodded even though no one was there, running up to her bedroom she dumped her bag and grabbed her towel and bikini. "Cass?" she called into her room "I'm gonna go for a surf before I start studying, do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah!" she called back "I'll just change then I'll be down."

"Mum? Fancy it?" Ruby asked.

"No thanks sweetie, I have to go to work," Charlie called from her bedroom.

"Will you be here for dinner?" Ruby asked.

"I don't think so, aren't you two supposed to be staying at dad's?" she asked sticking her head out the door.

Cassie could be heard scoffing in her room "I won't be!" she called.

Charlie sighed "Cassie, it's just for one more night, you'll be gone tomorrow."

"I don't care, if she's there I won't be and if dad wants her over us then that's his problem," she replied and walked by her.

"Cassie!" she called after her "it's not like that and you know it!"

"Feels like it already, don't worry about it mum!" Cassie called back before she slipped out the back door.

"Um…later mum," Ruby said and ran down the stairs after her wishing she'd never opened her mouth.

Charlie sighed heavily she hated how stubborn her eldest daughter could be, taking the stairs dressed for work she grabbed her phone and called Brax. Sighing again when it went to mail she hung up and grabbed her keys this was down to Brax to fix not her, she just prayed her daughters didn't get hurt in the process.

* * *

Later that afternoon Brax and Ricky were sitting on the beach, they'd left the house to give Heath and Bianca some space. This morning Jess had given birth to their baby with Heath by her side…Bianca wasn't too happy right now.

"Is that Cassie?" Ricky asked squinting against the sun.

Brax looked over and nodded "Cass!" he called and stood up "Cassie!" he called again.

"She's too far away," Ricky said.

Brax raised an eyebrow "she can damn well hear me," he said and pulled out his phone. Calling her he shook his head as she cancelled his call and put her phone back in her pocket.

"Do you want to go talk to her?" Ricky asked.

Brax watched Cassie for a few seconds then looked down at her "I'll call you later," he said and kissed her quickly before hurrying after her.

Cassie had seen and heard him but pretended she didn't, she was still mad at him. When she saw him walk up behind her she groaned and turned around "dad?"

"So you did see me?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Heard you too…what do you want? I'm on my way home to study."

"I want you to tell me what's going on with you?" he asked "you've barely said two words to me since I told you about me and Ricky.

"Well there's a hint!" she hissed and walked off.

"Oi," he said tugging her back, he was getting real tired of her attitude "what's that supposed to mean?"

Cassie sighed and turned back to him "it means you're setting yourself up again for a fall-do you really think she's gonna stick around with us in the picture everyday-mum too?"

Brax sighed "she's fine with you being around and mum."

Cassie laughed "if you believe that then you're a bigger idiot than I thought, you go be with her dad but don't expect me to be there-I can't. I really hope she doesn't break your heart again," she said and walked off.

"I broke up with her and do you think I liked any of your boyfriends?" he called after her.

"No," she replied "but that's different, you're my dad I'm a teenager you're not supposed to like them. Same way I don't have to like your girlfriends or mums boyfriends."

"Cass!" Ruby called "I'm heading back now!"

"Coming!" Cassie called and turned back to Brax "bye dad, I'll call you sometime," she said and walked off.

"You're not staying at mine?" he asked a little hurt.

"No!" she called back.

"Cassie!" he yelled.

"I'm not staying in your house if she's gonna be there, so drop it!" she hissed.

Ruby watched Brax put his hands on his hips and hang his head "everything okay?" she asked as Cassie walked by her.

"Yep," she replied "come on then, let's knuckle down.

Up on the hill Ricky watched Brax and sighed when her phone rang "Erica Sharpe," she answered not recognising the number. Her eyes went wide "I got the job?" she asked excitedly "yes thank you…when would I have to be in London? That soon? Okay this is great news, thank you so much, bye," she said and hung up…now how was she gonna tell him she was leaving for a few weeks?

…..

Charlie closed a file and yawned it had been a tough day, standing up she walked to her mirror and groaned at the paper stitches above her eye which had turned a bluish black…a take down hadn't gone too well and she was on the receiving end of a bat.

Walking out to the front desk she dropped a file down "can you have that sent off to the prosecutor today?"

Watson nodded and picked it up "sure thing serge," she said and nodded behind her "he's been there for an hour now, I told him you were busy but he insisted he wait."

Charlie looked around to see Brax sitting there, he didn't look happy at all "two guesses what this is about," she sighed and walked to him "Brax?"

He stood up and tilted her face to the side "what happened?"

"Someone didn't come quietly," she said and stepped away from him "what can I do for you? I was just about to head home."

"Charlie that looks bad," he said taking her face again unaware Ricky stood at the entrance watching.

She watched them for a few seconds before sighing and walking out again, she knew when she hadn't heard from him he'd be wherever Charlie was-he always was when he'd argued with the girls.

Charlie stepped away again "I'm fine, I was all cleaned up and looked over…what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Cassie," he sighed "I tried to talk to her on the beach this morning and she was having none if it, she said she wasn't staying at mine if Ricky was there."

Charlie closed her door and walked to her desk "what exactly did she say?"

"That I was setting myself up again for a fall, I was an idiot and Ricky wasn't gonna stick around with you around all the time…what?" he asked when Charlie fidgeted at the last part.

"Nothing," she said quickly and stood up-he didn't need to know "do you want me to have a word with her?"

"No," he sighed "I should do it myself I just needed a bit of advice."

"Brax," she said slipping her hand into his "she's upset, she loves you and she doesn't want to see you get hurt. In her eyes Ricky just abandoned you when she needed you most, she feels she didn't fight for you and she'll never forgive her for that…she's trying to protect you."

Brax blew out a breath and stood up "I never thought of it that way…I'll try her again."

Charlie nodded "do, I have to go see B so I won't be home for a few hours and Ruby should already be at yours," she said and followed him outside.

"Thanks Charlz," he said and kissed her on the cheek "you always know what to say…I'll call you later and let you know what happens," he said and climbed into his car.

* * *

Brax decided to go home and see Ricky first, he was upset and angry over Cassie and he didn't want to take it out on her, slipping in he found her on the sofa watching tv "hey babe," he said and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey…where have you been the last few hours?" she asked just to see would he tell her.

"After I talked to Cassie I hid in my office for a while then I went to see Charlie," he replied sitting beside her. "I'm going to head over and try talking to Cassie again…is Rubes not here?" he asked.

"No," she replied "she came by with Casey a while ago but they didn't stay long."

Brax sighed and stood up "I have to talk to them, this isn't fair, what happened was my fault they shouldn't be treating you like this."

Ricky stood up "a lot went down while you were gone Brax, it wasn't just you breaking up with me, I have my own issues with everyone, I should sort it myself."

"Like what?" he asked curiously.

Before she could reply Bianca walked through the door "Heath here?" she asked.

"No, he's at the hospital with Harley," Brax replied.

"Just tell him I'm staying at Charlie's tonight then I'll be heading to the city in the morning for the last board meeting so he can't call me," she said and walked outside.

Ricky smiled at Brax and sat down "you should sort things out with Cassie before she heads off."

"Do you want to come?" he asked.

"Nah, you need to do this on your own," she replied "I'll be here when you get back."

Brax smiled and kissed her "I love you," he said and slipped out the door.

"Love you too," she mumbled and picked up her phone, sending a quick message she sat back and awaited a reply. Getting one a few minutes later she glanced at the clock and jumped up, grabbing her keys she headed out the door-there was something she needed to take care of.

Arriving at the beach Charlie stood up from the bench "what did you need to see me about? I really should get back to Bianca."

"This won't take long so please just listen and let me get it out," she replied

"Okay," Charlie said slowly.

"I need you to back off from Brax," she said quickly "I know you are friends and you have kids together but you have to understand where I'm coming from Charlie. He still comes to you with everything and I feel like I'm being pushed to the sideline, he's my boyfriend I should be the one he comes to, I should be the one he trusts."

Charlie sighed and nodded "okay, you got it…I'll take a step back."

"Just like that?" Ricky asked surprised

Charlie nodded "I haven't forgotten what you said to me the other day-but you're half right. We do depend a lot on each other and it's time we cut that cord, just look after him Ricky…you should tell him about the job in London, Nate asked me did you tell anyone, seems he got a voicemail for you," she said and walked off.

….

Bianca looked over as they pulled into Charlie's drive "you haven't said much since you got back from the diner, is everything okay?"

Charlie nodded and climbed out "I was just letting you get it all out," she said and walked inside.

Bianca followed her and shoved her into a seat "you've been listening to me go on and on about my problems for weeks…what's going on?"

Charlie sighed heavily "alright, when I went to the diner I ran into Ricky…she asked me to back off from Brax."

"She what!" Bianca shrieked "she knew what kind of relationship you guys had before she even started to go out with him, I hope you told her to shove it?"

Charlie sighed again "yeah, but from her point of view don't you think it's a bit weird?" she asked unaware Brax had come down the stairs with Cassie "your boyfriend being best friends with his wife?"

"No," Bianca said right away "you two are friends, really good friends it's great that you could go back to that after you split. Not everyone lasts at the 'lets be friends thing' Charlie but you two did, tell me," she said and stood up "have you guys kissed, almost kissed or slept together since you officially split?"

"No," Charlie replied "we just stayed friends and made it work for the girls."

"So it will never happen then, and have you ever been jealous of any of his dates or girlfriends?" Bianca asked.

Charlie shrugged "maybe the first few dates but I was so used to him being my husband, being here for me, I was bound to feel it."

"And he was too…Heath told me," Bianca said quickly. "Ricky is feeling insecure because Brax can talk to you and trust you, after the whole Adam thing she had to earn his trust-and the girls too."

"So what do you suggest I do then?" Charlie asked "I've already told her I'd take a step back."

"I think that's my decision don't you?"

They both turned to see Brax standing in the doorway with Cassie beside him smirking "what are you doing here?" Charlie asked glancing at Bianca.

"I came to talk to Cassie…Ricky really asked you to stay away from me?" he asked.

"Oh, this is too good," Cassie laughed.

Bianca quickly ushered her out of the room "we'll be upstairs!" she called.

Brax sighed and sat down "what did she say to you?"

Charlie sat beside him "I think you should talk to Ricky Brax, I don't want her thinking I came over and just told you everything she said."

Brax looked over at her "you really said you'd back off?"

She nodded "I'm just trying to give you the chance you deserve with her, I know you love her."

"I can still do that with you in my life," he replied "it's worked out pretty well so far."

Charlie sighed and stood up "think about her Brax and what all this with us and the kids is doing to her-what it's making her think."

"My kids come before anyone," he said and stood up "and I'm not gonna cut you out of my life just because she's feeling insecure!" he yelled.

Charlie closed her eyes as a tear slid down her cheek "I think it's time we draw up the papers."

* * *

Brax stood there in shock, he felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart "no," he finally said "I'll never sign them."

Charlie turned to face him "it's time to face reality here Brax, what good are we married? We're never gonna get back together. You should move on and marry Ricky if you think she's it for you."

Brax walked to her "I am never signing those damn papers no matter how many times to you bring them to me. I'll sort this mess with Ricky and you don't worry about a thing," he said and walked to the door "oi," he said waiting for her to look over at him "I promised to love you and protect you until the day I die, I'm not gonna stop now just because we don't sleep in the same bed anymore," he said and slipped out the door.

Charlie sighed and dropped into a seat, at least she could say she tried.

Over at his place Brax bounced the door off the wall and slammed it once he was in. Ricky walked out from the kitchen "talk didn't go so well?" she asked.

Brax was all set to start yelling but stopped himself he had to play this carefully "it's Charlie," he said "she wants some time apart-from me."

Ricky nodded trying to hold back her smile "do you wanna talk about it?" she asked sliding onto the sofa beside him.

"I just don't get it," he said "we were fine, everything was fine, everything was running smoothly. What could possible have happened to make her ask me for a divorce?"

Divorce? Ricky said to herself and smiled maybe things were looking up after all. She slid her hand into Brax's "maybe she thought it was time, you guys have been apart for two years now."

Brax scoffed "so?" he asked and stood up "we both agreed we'd never divorce-neither of us want to get married again…something's going on, someone's been in her ear I know they have," he said and looked over at her "have you seen her with anyone today?"

"Just Kyle at the diner this morning other than that I haven't seen her at all…I need to talk to you about something," she said and stood up.

Brax sighed "can it wait? My head's all screwed up," he said and walked by her to his room.

Ricky sat back and smiled smugly, her plan had worked now she had Brax all to herself…at least she thought she did. She looked up when the door opened and Cassie walked in followed by Ruby "hey guys. Thought you weren't staying here tonight."

"Changed our minds…where's dad? It's dinner time with his girlies before we disappear…DAD!" she called and walked towards his bedroom.

"If only," Ricky muttered…maybe she should just say nothing and go on the job in London.

…..

Over at Charlie's Bianca poured another glass of wine for them both "so what do you think is gonna happen now?" she asked.

Charlie shrugged "guess we'll find out when Ricky comes banging my door down, or Brax's comes over." she took a gulp of her wine "what about you and Heath?"

Bianca sighed heavily "I really don't know Charlie, I was thinking I could stay with Cassie for a few days after the meeting to think about what I want."

Charlie nodded "time away might be good, but just remember the longer you're away the more Heath will wanna be around Jess and the baby-for the baby I mean, not Jess, he's already made it clear he doesn't want her."

Bianca nodded "I'm not a cruel person Charlie, I can't keep him from his son…I just wish I didn't love the idiot so much, then this would be a whole lot easier."

Charlie got an idea "how about I ask Hayls and Leah to come to the city with me for the weekend? You can stay with Cassie for the week and have your meeting. We'll follow Friday then we'll get a hotel and have a girlie weekend, shopping clubs bars…and maybe some eye candy?"

Bianca chuckled "deal," she said and shook her hand.

Charlie looked down at her phone as it beeped "it's Brax," she said and picked it up **didn't say anything to her, you're right I need to talk to her, I'll be in touch.**

"Wow that was weird," Bianca said "when was the last time he said he'd be in touch?"

Charlie shrugged and didn't bother replying, she didn't care after all right? They were just friends "time to move on B," she said and gulped her wine.

**A/N hope you enjoyed that one…getting closer to the big drama J**

**PS; I find myself picturing Denny when I think about Cassie...is anyone else seeing it?**


	3. Chapter 3

The next Sunday night Charlie and Bianca fell onto her sofa groaning, Ruby looked up and noticed their sunglasses "good weekend?" she giggled.

Charlie groaned and waved her hand "if you love us at all you'll go to Angelo's and get us a pizza."

"And ten gallons of water," Bianca groaned.

"What the hell did you two get up to?" Ruby asked and stood up.

Charlie and Bianca looked up at one another and burst out laughing "a lot of stuff," Charlie answered.

"Where's April?" Bianca asked "I thought she was staying here the weekend?"

"She was here, she went home about an hour ago to study for tomorrow's exam," Ruby replied.

"Forget the pizza then," Charlie said waving her hand again "go study."

"Can't…dad's coming over," she said quickly and hurried up the stairs.

Charlie sighed since he'd left here last week she had seen him maybe three times and spent the rest of the week dodging him, only calling him before she left to look in on Ruby since Casey wouldn't be there.

Before she could say anything the door opened and Brax walked in "Rubes!" he called and walked into the living room, stopping when he saw them on the sofa "you're home," he said.

Charlie nodded "we are," was all she could think to say.

After a few minutes silence Bianca pulled herself up "suppose I better go home and see Heath…call me in the morning Charlz!" she called back "bye Brax!" she added.

"See ya," he said and glanced at the door as it closed "fun weekend?" he asked walking to sit beside her.

Charlie nodded and grabbed her head "don't even ask me what we did because right now I don't remember anything other than waking up in the tub with Hayls."

Brax chuckled and leaned over to take her sunglasses off "you're indoors and it's night," he said and threw them on the table. Opening the pizza box he sat back and handed her a slice "knowing you I bet you haven't eaten today."

Charlie nodded and took it from him "I thought this was for Ruby."

"Actually," Ruby said from the stairs "April called she's having trouble with the exam tomorrow…I'm gonna go study with her and stay the night," she said and ran out the door before either could say anything.

Brax chuckled "ever so subtle our daughter."

Charlie nodded "did you tell her about the whole divorce thing?"

"Nope, Cassie did then they both turned up at my house remember?" he chuckled.

Charlie nodded "I do, but I thought that was because I had another talk with them about the whole Ricky thing…how's that going by the way?" she asked curiously.

Brax grabbed another slice of pizza and sat back " yeah great, she got a job in London…she'll be gone for a few weeks."

Charlie nodded again "you could always go with her," she suggested.

"Nah, don't think you'd cope without me," he smiled and nudged her "she'll be back," he added.

…..

A while later Brax chuckled as Charlie's eyes closed again "I'm gonna head off and let you get to bed," he said and stood up "you go on up I'll clean this up."

"Sorry, I'm just so tired, I think we only slept for two hours the whole weekend…leave that, I'll do it," she said and stood up.

Brax chuckled and picked up the box "it's done…remember that week we spent in Ibiza?"

Charlie chuckled and followed him to the kitchen "we didn't sleep for the whole week and fell asleep in the airport missing our flight home…Pete was pissed when we called for him to re-book a flight."

Brax chuckled "I got to spend an extra night alone with you didn't I?"

Charlie smiled to herself "that was s great holiday…have you thought any more about the papers?"

Brax sighed and dropped the pizza box "we don't need to go down that road Charlie, I've spoken to Ricky she said she didn't mean to push it that far. She said she just wanted me to talk to her the way I talked to you, she figured if you weren't around for a while I'd turn to her."

Charlie nodded "so it's working so far…think about the papers," she said and opened the door for him.

Brax walked to the door and closed it "it's not working for me, I'm doing this for her…I miss you being around," he said and stepped closer to her "it's like my best friend is missing."

"Brax," she sighed but didn't move…maybe it was the hangover restricting her movements.

"Don't," he said loudly "don't kid yourself and try tell me you want this or that you haven't missed me too."

"Of course I miss you!" she yelled "I hate how this is! I hate that I'm doing this at all! I hate how much it hurts to be away from you for so long! I love you! I just want you to be happy and if this is what I have to do to make it happen then I'll do it!"

Brax stood there staring at her for what felt like hours, stepping closer to her he leaned in without a word and kissed her.

"What are you doing?" she whispered when he didn't pull back fully.

Brax moved his lips to her ear "waiting on you to make the next move," he said and pulled back a little.

Biting on her lip she tugged him closer and kissed him…it felt so right.

As the kiss heated up Brax lifted her off the ground and carried her back to the living room, dropping her onto the sofa he started to kiss her slowly and ran his hands up her legs. Sighing he pulled back "we can't do this Charlie," he said and stood up "I gotta go talk to Ricky."

"Don't!" Charlie yelled jumping up "this was a mistake, a heat of the moment thing! It didn't happen! It won't happen again!" she yelled and fled to her room.

* * *

Almost two days had passed and nothing had been said about the kiss, Charlie hadn't even told Bianca, she just wanted to forget it. At her house Cassie and Ruby sat at the table over notebooks looking lost.

Brax walked in the back door and chuckled "why the confused faces?" he asked.

"We're trying to plan mums birthday party and Cassie has gone way overboard," Ruby replied "so we have to cut costs somewhere."

Brax leaned in between them and looked at the list "take that out," he said pointing to a bouncy castle "remember what happened the last time we had one?"

Cassie giggled "mum and the girls were on it for most of the night and Hayls wouldn't come down to blow out her candles…off it goes," she said and scratched it out.

"Well that saves us a hundred and sixty bucks…we need to cut at least another five hundred…what were you thinking Cass?" Ruby sighed.

"Five hundred?" Brax asked "how in the hell did you get it over five hundred in the first place?"

"Read the list dad," Cassie said.

Brax took it and started "take out the hotel function room, she won't want that and she'll know something's up. Have it at Angelo's no charge-where you should have booked in the first place."

"We didn't think it would be okay since you guys are not talking and all," Ruby said awkwardly.

"We are talking…we're just having some space," Brax muttered "food and drinks are covered too, just get Leah to make her cake and Hayls to get the decorations."

"What about stuff for the kids?" Ruby asked.

"What kids?" Brax asked "we don't know any kids, Rubes, you'll be the youngest there."

"Duh," Cassie giggled and scratched that off her list "we're keeping the karaoke."

Brax nodded and threw Ruby's pad down "everything's covered then we gotta go…how much have you saved?"

"Uh….nearly a grand," Ruby said "thanks dad," she said and smiled sweetly.

Brax narrowed his eyes "why have I a feeling that that grand would have been coming out of my bank account."

"Only three fifty," Ruby said quickly "we got the rest up ourselves," she said and stood up "now we have more to spend on her present."

"Hey" Brax said following them out the door "I haven't given you any money yet."

"That's okay dad we know your pin," Cassie giggled as they climbed into his car.

Brax chuckled and climbed into the car "who's on the list?" he asked "anyone she doesn't like?"

"Don't think so, Bianca helped us, she even agreed to go with Heath and not make it awkward, so I think it'll be about fifty people…excluding the station, we're leaving that to Jack and Pete," Ruby replied.

Brax nodded and pulled away from the house, he really needed to talk to Charlie and clear the air before anyone got a few drinks in them at this party.

…..

Later that evening Charlie yawned as she walked out of the diner-double shifts sucked. She couldn't wait to get home and have an early night-and, she was off for the weekend which gave her three days to herself.

Turning the corner towards the lot she pulled the lid off her coffee and jumped back when someone stopped in front of her. Looking up to see Brax she smiled quickly "hey," she said and stepped around him.

Brax sighed and turned around "so this is how you're gonna go on?" he asked "avoiding me and not answering my calls?"

Charlie groaned and turned back to him "I'm not avoiding you, I've been busy and I've just come off a double I really just wanna get home and sleep."

"You are avoiding me," he sighed "can I meet you at yours? We need to get this out of the way, the girls are starting to notice something's going on."

Charlie sighed heavily and just nodded "I'll see you there in about ten minutes," she said and walked off.

Ricky stepped out from the corner and sighed, she knew something was going on. He'd been quiet and distant for over a week now, she just thought he was getting used to the idea of Charlie not being around…now she knew there was more to it.

Remembering Charlie's surprise birthday party she smiled to herself an pulled out her phone, pulling up an old number she watched Brax follow Charlie as it rang "James?" she asked. "Hey it's Ricky-Brax's girlfriend, yeah, how you keeping?" she asked and listened as he talked. "That's great, anyway I don't know if Ruby or Cassie's been in touch yet but we're planning a surprise party for Charlie's birthday, and I know she'd just love it if you could make it." She nodded even though he couldn't see her "brilliant, it's in Angelo's Saturday, starts at eight…hope to see you soon," she said and hung up.

Over at Charlie's she sat looking at Brax" so, we gonna talk or what?"

Brax sighed "alright, I'm sorry I kissed you, I don't know what I was thinking, it was just hearing you say all that, I don't know, it felt like the right thing to do."

Charlie nodded and stood up "it wasn't, you're with Ricky I'm stepping back so you can make a go of it, let's pretend it never happened and move on from it."

"Hey, you kissed me too don't forget…why did you kiss me back?"

Charlie shrugged "I don't know, I was messed up, I just snapped and let it all out…I'm sorry I shouldn't have kissed you at all. We'll never work again Brax so there's no point even thinking anything will come of that kiss."

Brax sighed and walked to the door "it's forgotten if you stop avoiding me and start acting normal."

"Deal," she nodded and walked into the living room.

"See you at Angelo's later!" he called and slipped out the door.

* * *

It was now Saturday, the day of Charlie's party Cassie and Ruby had just left Angelo's after setting it up with the help of Jack Peter and Charlie's friends.

Climbing into Brax's car Cassie started the engine "dad said after we drop the car at his we've to go to ours and start getting mum ready."

Ruby shot her head to her "you were supposed to put it in her head that we were going out."

"I did," Cassie said and pulled away "I told her we're going to karaoke but she said she wasn't in the mood."

Ruby sighed "so how the hell are we gonna get her down here?"

Cassie shrugged "tell her were having a family dinner for her birthday and that Jack and Pete are already waiting here?"

Ruby shook her head "you're an idiot, you should have told me she said no...this better work," she said and climbed out of the car.

Arriving home a few minutes later the girls walked into their house to find Charlie lying on the sofa in sweatpants "mum?" Ruby said and looked at Cassie "why aren't you getting ready?"

"Ready for what?" Charlie asked lifting her head "I already told Cassie I wasn't in the mood for karaoke."

Ruby glared at Cassie, "Mum, did Jack not call you?" Cassie said quickly.

Charlie shook her head "no one's called…why?"

"Because they told us they'd arranged a dinner for your birthday, he said he'd call you," Ruby said and turned off the tv. "It's all set now so you have to go, get up and start getting ready."

Charlie groaned and pulled herself up "can't I have one night alone without anyone annoying me? This isn't even a big birthday, I'm thirty three."

"Trust me mum," Cassie said nudging her up the stairs "you're gonna love this, it'll be great fun us all being together."

"We're always together," Charlie muttered "that's the problem with living in a small town, no escape."

"Dress up!" Ruby called as she walked into her own room "it's gonna be a formal night!"

Charlie dropped onto her bed and sighed, she was looking forward to a peaceful weekend alone.

"Get dressed mum!" Cassie yelled as she walked by.

"Fine," she huffed and rolled of the bed "but you two better leave me in peace tomorrow! All day!" she yelled and waked into her bathroom.

Cassie stuck her head into Ruby's room "drink and give mum her present before we go?"

Ruby nodded and pulled a dress over her head "she won't let me have a drink though."

"She will, it's just one glass of wine and she can see you…you're seventeen anyway," Cassie replied as they walked to Charlie's room to wait on her "she let me drink," she added.

"Do you think she'll like this?" Ruby asked looking down at the box.

"Oh yeah," Cassie frowned "her and dad are all weird…we'll give it to her tomorrow," she said shoving it under the bed.

….

"Will you two stop tugging at me I am capable of walking up some stairs by myself," Charlie said as they pulled her up the stairs of Angelo's.

Ruby just giggled when they got to the top and stepped out of her way "SURPRISE!" even yelled causing Charlie to jump back.

"Is this all for me?" Charlie asked looking around.

"Who else would it be for…Happy birthday mum," Cassie said and kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah mum, happy birthday," Ruby said and hugged her "now go have fun," she added.

Charlie narrowed her eyes "I always know when you two are up to something…how did you get away with it this year?"

Ruby shrugged "we had help," she said and nodded to Brax.

Charlie looked over at Brax and smiled "I should have known you'd have something to do with this…thank you."

Brax walked over to her "how could I not be apart of this? Happy birthday Charlz," he said and kissed her on the cheek.

After Brax smiled at her a minute too long Ricky shoved him out of the way "happy birthday Charlie," she said and hugged her quickly "hope you have a great night."

"Thanks Ricky," she smiled and looked beyond them "I better go say hello to everyone," she said and walked by them towards her brothers and friends.

An hour later the party was in full swing and Charlie was having a great night, coming out of the bathrooms she stopped as Cassie walked in "having a good night Cass?" she asked.

Cassie nodded and laughed giddily, leaning closer to Charlie she giggled again "I am mum, don't tell dad…I may have given Rubes one vodka too many," she said and hurried off before Charlie could start yelling.

Charlie sighed and shook her head before going in search of her youngest daughter, she didn't mind her having one or two drinks-the blue crap all the teenagers were drinking but vodka was a different story, she'd warned her to stay away from spirits or anything heavy.

Finding her at the bar dancing alone she walked up beside her "having fun sweetie?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly "isn't this party great?" she giggled.

Charlie shook her head and took her by the arm "I said no hard stuff didn't?" she said pushing her onto a chair "we need to sober you up before dad twigs it, stay here and I'll get you water."

"Mum, I'm fine I had two vodkas which Casey and Cassie gave me, I'll walk it off!" she called after her.

"Is she okay?" Ricky asked when Charlie stopped beside her.

Charlie looked back at Ruby "someone gave her vodka I need to sober her up."

Ricky nodded and looked to the door as more people came in "I can sit with her," she offered "people are still arriving you should say hello."

Charlie thought for a moment then held out the glass "that'd be great, thanks Ricky, I won't be too long!" she called as she walked to meet the late arrivals.

* * *

Awhile later Peter and Jack decided it was time to do the cake before they got drunk and forgot about it, walking back to the kitchen with Kyle they lit the candles and Peter carried it out to the floor.

"Happy birthday to you!" Jack started waiting for everyone to join in.

Charlie smiled and stood up from her seat beside Bianca and Hayley, walking to them she stopped beside them "I'm gonna kill you two," she laughed.

"Speech!" Casey yelled causing everyone to laugh.

Charlie shot a playful glare to him "I just want to start off by thanking everyone for coming, I'm so happy you're all here."

Before she could go any further a ruckus was heard from the stairs "will you let go of me! I was invited!"

Following that voice was a scoff from Heath "somehow I doubt that."

Charlie knew that voice all too well her stomach turned and her heart sped up. As everyone looked towards the door she started to walk backwards towards the fire exit-no way was he getting anywhere near her.

Heath appeared holding a guy by the scruff of the neck "look who I found hanging around outside."

Peter dropped the cake onto the nearest table and charged forward "what the hell are you doing here!" he yelled.

"Shit!" Cassie yelled and ran forward "Case! Kyle! Stop him!" she screeched.

Casey and Kyle jumped and grabbed hold of him "you're not supposed to be here! No one wants you here!" he yelled as he struggled against them.

"You got some nerve coming back here!" Jack hissed as Noah and Miles held onto him "after what you did to Charlie you're lucky you're not dead!"

Brax stepped in "what happened to Charlie?"

"Not now dad," Ruby cut in "someone get rid of him!" she yelled.

"Don't move!" Brax yelled as Heath went to drag him outside, walking to Heath he went face to face "what did he do to Charlie?" he asked.

Heath sighed and looked around at everyone watching him closely "no one but us and her brothers know, I'm not airing out on her."

"Tell me now Heath!" Brax yelled causing a few people to jump.

Heath sighed and leaned in to whisper in his ear "he beat the crap outta her broke her arm and left her unconscious," he said and stepped back quickly.

Brax stepped back like someone had burned him, looking at James he growled "you hit my wife!" he hissed in a low tone. Without a word he launched his fist into his face repeatedly.

"Someone stop him before he gets himself into trouble!" Ruby yelled.

Heath stepped in and pulled Brax away "enough mate," he said and let James scramble to his feet "how did you know about this party?" he asked.

James wiped the blood from his lip "Ricky invited me," he panted "she said Charlie would love for me to be here."

….

Ricky shrunk back as all eyes looked her way "you invited him?" Brax asked angrily.

Ricky nodded and darted her eyes around "I didn't know what happened or I wouldn't have called him. I thought they just broke up because he got a job and had to move away."

"Liar!" Ruby and Cassie yelled together "you where there when Heath took her and Ruby back to his house after it happened!" Cassie added.

"Same way you were there at dads last week when he were going through mums address book, were you clearly heard us say he wouldn't be welcome!" Ruby yelled.

Ricky sighed "I don't know what happened, I had my own problems to worry about. Charlie stayed in the room for two days I didn't even see her. I didn't know who you were talking about when you were doing the invites."

Brax sighed and looked at "James you better beat it before my temper gets the better of me."

"Uh…where's mum?" Ruby asked looking around.

"I'll check the bathrooms," Bianca said and hurried off.

"I'll check out back," Kyle said and went behind the doors.

Brax looked around and noticed the fire exit was ajar, turning to Ricky he looked at her and shook his head "I'll talk to you at home…girls!" he called and walked away "we'll look for mum outside!"

"Brax I'm sorry!" she called after him.

"Bit late for that don't you think?" Leah scoffed.

"Well done Ricky, you've managed to ruin the one night a year Charlie get's to let her hair down!" Hayley snapped and brushed by her.

Ricky sighed heavily she had planned this reunion better in her head "I'm sorry, I didn't know what he did, I'm so sorry…I'll go," she said and hurried out the door.

"Brax is gonna kill her later," Martha said as they started to clean up as the boys searched for Charlie.

"What he sees in her I'll never know, she's always causing some drama," Georgie sighed and went to grab bags.

On the beach Ruby was freaking "mum! Mum! Where is she dad?" she cried "mum! Mum will you answer me!"

"She can't be that far Rubes, don't cry," he replied and wiped her face "she probably took off home."

Ruby pulled away from him "your girlfriend is an idiot!" she hissed and stormed off in the direction of their house.

"Don't I know it," he muttered and followed them.

"Any luck mate?" Peter called down "we've looked everywhere."

"Nah," Brax replied "I'm gonna try her house! I'll call you when I get there!"

Peter nodded "we'll be here!" he called before he walked off.

At her house Charlie held her gun firmly in her hand as she paced her kitchen why is here? How did he know about the party? Who in their right mind would call him? She asked herself.

Sighing she sat up on the counter and closed her eyes, outside footsteps made her shoot forward. Seeing a shadow cross her window she aimed her gun at the door, gulping as the handle began to turn.

* * *

The door opened and Ruby walked in followed by Cassie, Brax walked in behind them and spotted the gun. Reacting quickly he pulled the girls behind him "Charlie, it's us, put the gun down."

"Sorry," she muttered and placed the gun on the counter.

Ruby hurried to her and hugged her tight "oh mum, I was so worried, I swear we had nothing to do with that."

"It's okay Rubes, I believe you…I'm sorry I just took off," she replied.

"Don't be sorry mum," Cassie said and hugged her "it was a shock to us all…I'm gonna get her to bed," she added as Ruby stumbled to the fridge.

"Night girls," Brax said as they walked by him, waiting for the bedroom door to close he walked to Charlie and leaned on the counter beside her "why didn't you tell me?" he asked after a minute.

Charlie looked over at him "who told you?" she asked and sighed "did he brag about it?"

"It doesn't matter who told me…why didn't you?" he asked.

"Because you were in the middle a of court case looking at a life sentence, you had enough to worry about," she muttered.

Brax sighed "I still should have known Charlie, Ruby was in the house what if he'd gotten to her?"

"She wasn't here, she went to stay with Cassie for the weekend after it all came out about your trial," Charlie replied.

Brax nodded "is that why you had a cast on at the hearing?" when Charlie nodded he went on "so it wasn't a perp?"

"No," she sighed "look Brax I didn't tell you because you had your own stuff going on and I didn't want you to worry about anything else. I didn't tell you because I knew how you'd react even if you couldn't do anything about it, so can we just drop it?" she asked.

"Fine," he sighed "but Heath and anyone else that knew are in for it for not telling me."

"I asked them not," Charlie replied "don't take it out on them they were just doing what I asked…did you find out how he knew to go to Angelo's?"

Brax nodded and looked down at his hands "Ricky," he sighed and looked over at her "Ricky called him."

Charlie's eyes went wide she could not believe what she was hearing "Ricky?" she asked.

Brax nodded "she claims she didn't know a thing about what happened or she never would have called him."

Charlie scoffed "well that's a lie, she was with me at the hospital while Heath took Ruby home."

Before he could reply the door opened and Hayley stuck her head in "can we bring the party here? Just us?"

Brax looked back to Charlie, sighing again he dropped a kiss on her forehead "don't let this ruin your night…I gotta go talk to Ricky," he said and walked out the door.

….

Arriving home Brax let himself in to see Ricky at the table alone "hey," she said quietly.

"Anyone home?" he asked as he dropped his keys onto the table.

"No…how's Charlie?" she asked. "Brax I'm so sorry," she said taking a step closer to him "I had no idea anything had happened or I nev-"

"Just cut the crap Ricky!" he cut in "you did know something happened! You knew exactly what happened because you stayed with her at the hospital…what the fuck are you playing at!" he yelled angrily.

"I thought if they got back together she'd leave you alone!" she yelled before she could stop herself.

Brax stared at her for a few minutes "this again?" he snapped "Ricky you called up her abusive ex boyfriend…what the hell is the matter with you?"

"Yes Brax! This again!" she yelled "I am sick of it all! I am sick of how you talk to her and not me! I am sick of hearing you've been at hers when the girls aren't even there! I am sick of you choosing her over me time and time again!" she cried "you always run to her Brax! Even after I asked her to give us some space you still went running to her."

Brax took a step closer to her "Charlie is my friend and the mother of my kids, when I'm at that house it's to make sure my girls are okay and have what they need."

"Please," Ricky laughed "you're still in love with her Brax!" she yelled.

Brax laughed bitterly "I am not in love with her, I love her like a mate and the mother of my kids that all there is to it."

Ricky sighed "you know that's not true Brax, you're still in love with Charlie, how are we supposed to work if even I can see that!"

"How are we supposed to work when you're acting like the crazy person you are right now!" he yelled. Sighing he walked to her "Ricky I'm in love with you, I want to be with you. If I was still in love with Charlie I'd be with Charlie."

Ricky sighed and stepped away from him "it doesn't feel like it, you always put her and those girls before me, how do you think that makes me feel?"

"Those girls," he hissed "are my daughters and they will come before anyone, I don't care if that hurts you Ricky, my daughter mean the world to me an no one or nothing will ever change that."

"And Charlie?" she asked as she walked to the bedroom.

Brax leaned against the door "Charlie is always gonna be in my life-as my mate," he added "if you drop all this and stop thinking all this crazy stuff we'll be just fine and we'll go back to the way we used to be."

Ricky stood up and walked to him "I'm not so sure we can go back Brax, every fight we have you defend her and make me feel like the bad guy….you need to decide who you want," she said and closed the door on him.

* * *

The next morning Charlie groaned and lifted her head to see she'd fallen asleep on the sofa cuddled into her brother. Pulling herself up she groaned and stepped over Jack who was passed out on the floor, walking to the kitchen she burst out laughing at the sight of Heath asleep on her table with bottles and cans around him like an angel.

Putting on the pot she started to clean around, hearing a tap on her door she walked to it and pulled it open "hey," she said and leaned against it.

"Hey," Brax replied "I have all your presents in my car, I just wanted to make sure someone was up before I started to take them out."

Charlie nodded and walked into the kitchen "coffee?" she asked, she knew by his face things didn't go well with Ricky last night.

Brax looked at Heath and chuckled "yeah…did anyone go home last night?"

Charlie shrugged "I vaguely remember Leah and Miles leaving at around six."

Brax chuckled again and took a cup from her "so you still had a good night then?"

Charlie nodded and walked out to the tables outside "you never came back last night, it must have gotten intense."

Brax nodded "you could say that…she left for London this morning."

"And you just let her?" Charlie asked wide eyed.

Brax shrugged "she brought the girls into it and I snapped, we'll talk when she comes home."

Charlie sighed "Brax, you need to call her, you can't just let her leave with nothing."

Brax sighed and stood up "I didn't let her leave, I woke up and there was a note by my pillow."

"Like this one," Cassie yawned and handed it to Charlie "I woke up in your bed, guess B thought I was you."

"B's not here?" Charlie asked and scanned the note.

"What does it say?" Brax asked.

Charlie sighed "hey Charlz, sorry I know this is so bad timing and Ricky is our least favourite person at the moment-she still needs a friend, so I've gone with her to London. I need the time away from Heath to think about my own future, please don't be mad at me I will be back-promise, love you. PS, I've taken some of your clothes and a suitcase…spur of the moment thing, I'll be in touch, Bianca."

Brax sighed and sat back down "least she's not on her own."

Charlie nodded and placed the note down "who else is upstairs?" she asked turning to Cassie.

"Um, Martha and Georgie are in my bed, Case and Tamara in Ruby's. Kyle and Phoebe are in the spare room, Hayls was in your bed with me and Rubes…I think Noah was in the bathtub," Cassie giggled.

Charlie groaned "the thoughts of cleaning this house," she said and stood up "Cass go wake Ruby Case and Kyle. Get them to bring down any bottles glasses cans or food wrappers."

….

An hour later everyone had cleaned up and bid their goodbyes to suffer in peace in their own beds. All reaming where Charlie Brax Cassie and Ruby. Charlie yawned and stood up "I need more coffee anyone want one?"

"Yes!" they all called.

Brax followed Charlie to the kitchen "I'll start bringing your presents in," he said and walked out the back door.

"Is dad okay?" Cassie asked.

Charlie sighed "I don't know Cass, he still hasn't told me what happened."

"How about me and Rubes get outta your hair for a bit and you can ask?" Cassie suggested.

"You don't have to leave, you know your dad he'll talk when he wants to," Charlie replied.

"I know, but I'm really dying for fries and a milkshake," Cassie replied and walked off.

"Little help here!" Brax called from the door, Charlie hurried to him and took what she could.

"These are all for me?" she asked.

"Yeah, and that's just the back seat," he chuckled and walked outside again.

Charlie smiled to herself and walked to the living room with what she had in her hands. She looked up as the two girls bounced down the stairs "we're going to meet Case and Kyle at the diner then we're gonna hang on the beach!" Cassie called

"Yeah so you'll have the peace and quiet you moaned about yesterday!" Ruby added "bye dad!" she giggled as they ran by them.

Brax chuckled and placed the rest of the presents down "do you want me to go so you can open them on your own?"

"Nah, I'll open a few then the rest can wait, I know I'm gonna fall asleep again," she chuckled.

Brax sat down beside her and picked up a bag "this one is from Irene," he said handing it to her.

Charlie pulled out what was in the bag and smiled "Irene really does listen when you chew her ear off at the diner," she said and held up a bag "I was only telling her how the strap broke on my favourite bag last week."

"Looks expensive," Brax said and took it from her "you'll fit your gun and cuffs in it anyway."

"Ha ha," she said and took it from him "I get to pick the next one," she said and scanned the pile.

"You own them all," he chuckled.

"I know but you're my helper," she chuckled and looked over at a blue sparkly bag "this one is shiny so it's next," she said reaching for it.

"Actually, that's from me…will you open it when I'm not here?" he asked.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you're gonna hate it, I suck at buying presents-you know that."

"Brax," she said waving him off "it could be a kettle and I wouldn't care, it's the thought that counts."

"Still," he said and picked up another one "please just wait until I'm gone."

* * *

Later on Charlie picked up a present from Heath, Brax was still sitting beside her but had gone off into a daze. Opening the box she pulled out the paper and smiled "I always said you were a great pillow," she said running her fingers over it.

"What's that?" he asked looking over at her.

Charlie held up the framed picture of him and the two girls asleep on the bed "you guys look so cute."

Brax took it from her and looked down on it "I can't believe how much they look like me," he chuckled "the way Cass sleeps with her mouth open a little bit."

"And Ruby with her hand tucked under her chin," Charlie giggled and took it from him. Walking to the fireplace she put it in the middle "perfect place for everyone to see…I can't believe Heath was so thoughtful."

Brax opened the card and read it out to her "sorry for the lameness of the card, but even me as a big tough guy couldn't resist making this wall worthy…happy birthday Charlz, have an awesome day."

Charlie giggled and sat back beside him "do you wanna chill out and watch a movie or something?"

"Brax!" Heath's panicked voice yelled running through her door.

"What's wrong mate?" he asked standing up.

Heath held out the note he'd already seen "don't freak out…Rick's gone to London," he said quickly.

"Is that all?" Brax asked "I thought something had happened…I know she's gone," he said calmly and sat back down.

Heath looked at Charlie then back to Brax "and you're still sitting here?"

"What do you want me to do?" Brax asked.

"Uh follow her maybe," Heath replied.

Brax scoffed "she made her choice…are you gonna follow Bianca?" he asked.

"No, but that's different…she needs her space to think about our future."

Charlie sighed heavily "will you both at least send them a message to let them know you care about them?"

"I've sent two already…I need a drink," Heath said and slipped out the door again.

"And you?" she asked looking at Brax.

Brax pulled a face and stood up "you know what, I think I'll join him…see ya later Charlz," he said and followed him.

"Brax," she sighed and started to follow him.

"I'm fine Charlie," he said turning back to her "it'll all work out itself, don't worry about," he said and walked off to his car.

Charlie sighed and walked back into the house, pulling out her phone she called the station "hi, it's sergeant Holden…who's on nightshift tonight?"

She waited as the officer got the roster "Watson Serge, she starts at eight."

"That's great, thanks," she said and hung up, dialling Georgie she knew she'd be waking her "hey, write this down then you can go back to sleep," she said as soon as it was answered.

"Shoot," Watson replied.

"When you get into work I need you to find out where Bianca and Ricky are staying in London, I'll get it off you in the morning," she said and hung up.

….

The next evening Charlie walked into Angelo's to see Brax sitting over a drinking, sighing she shook her head and walked up to him "you're still wearing the clothes you left mine in yesterday, have you even been home since?"

"Sorry mum," he said looking over at her "didn't know I gave a damn what I looked like."

Charlie took the glass from him and slammed it down "you took the heads off the girls this morning, Ruby called me crying she's worried it's all happening again."

Brax scoffed "so I've had a few drinks, she's always been dramatic anyway," he said and reached over for the glass.

Charlie pulled it further away from him and stepped closer to him "before you finish this I want you to think about something," she said moving closer to him. "I want you to think about your daughters not talking to you, I want you to think about them hating you again, and most importantly," she hissed "you think about me never letting you see them again!"

Brax's head snapped up "you wouldn't do that to me," he said.

Charlie slammed the glass down within reach "won't I?" she asked and started to walk off. "We're not going through this again-the girls can't handle it. If you go down this road again Brax you're on your own!" she hissed and walked off.

Brax looked at the glass and thought deeply, sighing he shoved it away from him and stood up.

Later that night Charlie was catching up on her recordings, the girls had long gone to bed. She frowned when someone tapped on her window, walking to the blind she pulled it back and sighed. Opening the door she leaned against it "if you've turned up here at one am wasted so help me god" she said through gritted teeth.

"I haven't been drinking," he said seriously "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Charlie blew out a breath and walked back inside, walking to the top drawer she pulled it open and pulled out papers "here," she said dropping them on the island.

"What's all this?" he asked looking down on them.

"Plane tickets to London and a place to stay," she replied "the address of where Ricky and Bianca are is written on the back of the booklet so don't lose it."

"Charlie I can't take this," he said and looked over at her "why did you do this?"

Charlie walked to him "because my daughters need their dad, and she makes you happy you're just too stubborn to admit it…go get her Brax say anything you have to. There are tickets here for you Heath and Case or Kyle…someone has to stay behind and look after Angelo's, I won't manage both."

Brax looked down on the tickets for a moment "when do we leave?" he asked.

Charlie smiled widely "in the morning, I'll drive you to the airport….go find your brothers and tell them."

Brax pulled her into a hug "you're amazing Charlie you know that? I promise I'll pay you back."

"If it stops you moping then consider it a gift," she chuckled and pulled back.

Brax walked to the door "I better let get you go to bed, night Charlie," he smiled and closed the door behind him.

Charlie locked the door and leaned against it frowning she wiped her face to see tears, she bit her lip as her heart dropped lower and lower"…it's for the best, he deserves to be happy," she whimpered to herself and walked into her living room having no clue why she was now so suddenly upset.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Charlie stepped out of the car and leaned against it "you guys got everything?" she asked as the boys pulled bags from her boot.

Brax closed it and walked to her "you didn't have to drive us you know," he said as she yawned again.

"I told you I wanted to," she replied and looked at Heath as he stopped beside Brax "you behave yourself over here you hear me? I don't want to get a call to say you've been arrested."

Heath chuckled and hugged her "I'll be on my best behaviour…thanks for this Charlie," he said and stepped back.

"Bags are on a trolley," Casey said walking to them "see ya in a few days Charlie," he said and hugged her "and thanks for my first trip to Europe."

"Make the most of it then," Charlie said and stepped back "you better go," she added.

Brax looked at his brothers "you guys go find check in, I'll catch up."

Charlie walked to the door of the car "will you text me when you get there?"

Brax nodded and walked to the door "after everything that she's done are you sure you don't mind me doing this?"

Charlie nodded and smiled quickly "you love her, go get her and stop worrying about me," she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek "try having some fun too," she giggled.

Brax pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head "I don't know if I'm doing the right thing here Charlie," he sighed.

Charlie pulled back and looked up at him "why?"

"Because she has a problem with you and the girls being around so much, you girls are always gonna being my life so really what's the point?" he asked.

"I'm sure she hasn't got a problem with the girls Brax, she was just angry…don't worry about all that. Go get her and bring her home, we can worry about everything else then," she replied "now go on, get outta here."

Brax chuckled and dropped a kiss on her forehead "you have an answer for everything," he said and started to walk away "I'll call when we land…love ya!" he called and hurried after his brothers.

"Love you too," she sighed and watched him disappear into the crowd.

"Not easy watching them go is it?" a woman asked stopping beside her.

Charlie looked over and threw her head up to the sky "you gotta be kidding me," she said and looked over at the woman "what are you doing here mum?" she asked.

"I'm just back from Florida and I spotted you-well, I spotted Casey getting a trolley so I followed him…are you and Brax back on?" she asked.

Charlie groaned and climbed into her car "that's none of your business…bye mum," she said and closed the door.

"I was thinking I'd stop by and see the girls later, will they be home?"

"No, they won't be," she replied and pulled away, last thing she needed now was to deal with her mother.

…

Arriving home Charlie let herself in to see the girls at the table "hey guys, any plans for the day?"

"No," Ruby muttered through a mouthful of cereal "I told Kyle I'd help him out with the breakfast rush," she said and stood up "which I better get to…later!"

"And you?" Charlie asked looking over at Cassie.

"Connie has a hospital appointment so I said I'd mind Darcy since everyone else is awol…don't you have work?" she asked.

"Yeah, later," Charlie replied and walked towards the living room "oh, I saw Nan this morning so don't be surprised if she pops up."

"Great," Cassie sighed and stood up "I think I'll hide out in Nan Cheryl's for the day…later mum!" she called on her way out.

"Bye!" Charlie called and dropped onto the sofa, looking around she saw her presents had been moved to the corner. Standing up she walked to them and picked up the one Brax had gotten her, walking back to the sofa she sat down and pulled out a box. Opening it she pulled back the paper and chuckled.

He had gotten her a jewellery box-not just any jewellery box, it was the one she'd had when she was a teenager. She had only just met Brax, she had an argument with her dad and threw it at him smashing it against the wall. She'd been so down for days and Brax had tried everything to cheer her up, opening it she gasped and stared down at the bracelet looking back at her. It was a silver diamond bracelet with blue stones "Brax," she said and ran her fingers over it.

Taking it from the box she clipped it around her wrist and admired it. Looking to her door when someone knocked she sighed and stood up, walking to the door she pulled it open not surprised to see the person on the other side "can this day get any worse?" she groaned.

"Aren't you gonna invite your mum in for a cuppa?"

"Don't you have two sons you can hassle instead?" she asked.

Her mum chuckled and brushed by her "they were busy," she said and walked into the living room.

"What a surprise," Charlie muttered and followed her "look mum you'll have to go I have a few things I need to do before work."

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, I heard I missed your birthday party," she replied.

"So?" Charlie said "you've missed most of them, and you haven't been here in months…I have to go out," she said gesturing for her leave.

"You know why I stay away," her mum replied "I don't just do it to be the worst mother in the world Charlie!"

"Well, you were always that," Charlie huffed and pulled the door open "dad hasn't been here for over a year you could have come see us anytime…please leave Sonya."

Sonya sighed and walked to the door "alright," she sighed again "but I would like to have dinner with you all sometime-I'll be in touch."

* * *

Halfway into their flight Heath dropped a magazine on his tray and looked beside him to see Casey asleep, drumming his fingers he looked over to Brax looking down at a family picture he kept in his wallet "geez Brax," he chuckled "we only left a few hours ago, the girls will be fine, Kyle said he'd watch out for them."

Brax sighed heavily and tucked the picture back into his wallet "it's not the girls I was looking at."

Heath frowned and stared at him for a few seconds "that just leaves Charlie to worry about…something going on with her that we don't know about?" he asked.

Brax looked over at him quickly, he hadn't told anyone about kissing her and didn't think she'd be too happy if he did "no," he finally sighed "it's just James turning up, I think she's still a little freaked."

Heath nodded "he's gone mate-drove him to airport myself…stop worrying, she's fine," he said and picked up the magazine "I know you're lying by the way," he said without looking at him.

Brax leaned forward to see Casey asleep "alright, you wanna know what's going on?" he asked turning to him.

Heath nodded "maybe getting it off your chest will help."

Brax thought for a moment, once he said this there was no going back, sighing he looked over at him again "I kissed Charlie."

Heath's eyes went wide, glancing at Casey he moved closer to him "you kissed her? When?"

"About two weeks ago," Brax said and sat back in his seat "we were sorta arguing, she said something and I just grabbed her and kissed her."

"What were you arguing about?" he asked curiously.

Brax sighed again "Ricky went to see Charlie and asked her to stay away from me-another story," he said holding up his hand when Heath opened his mouth. " she said she would and she backed off for a bit, I wasn't happy about it but tried for Ricky's sake."

Heath nodded "okay you tried…what happened then?"

"It was that weekend all the girls went away, the Sunday night I went to spend time with Ruby and Charlie and Bianca were just home."

"And let me guess," Heath chuckled "Ruby saw an opportunity and made up some excuse to leave?"

Brax nodded and chuckled "she said April was having some trouble with studying so she was going to help her out and stay there."

Heath chuckled again "smart that kid…she knew something was going on, she asked me had you two had a barney."

Brax nodded anyway, I stayed for a while but when I was leaving she brought up divorce papers again and I snapped. I said I missed her and it was hard not seeing her like I used to."

Heath nodded "what did she say?"

"She said she was doing it so I'd be happy, I started yelling not to kid herself I know she missed me like I missed her…she went on a little rant saying she did and it hurt so much not to see me and she loved me," Brax sighed "she said if this is what she had to do for me to be happy she'd do it."

"So you grabbed her and kissed her?" Heath asked.

Brax nodded "she avoided me for days after that, when I finally caught up with her we talked about it and agreed to forget about it."

"And now you don't want to?" Heath asked.

Brax sighed heavily "right now I don't know what I'm doing," he said and looked away signalling the conversation was over.

…..

Another few hours later they had landed in London and had just picked up their bags "what do we do first?" Casey asked as they walked out to grab a taxi.

"I don't know about you two," Heath said slinging his bag over his shoulder "but I'm in need of a good feed."

Brax grabbed his bag "we'll get food, head to the hotel and settle in, then we'll go track down Bianca and Ricky."

Heath glanced at Casey "you know, I can go track Bianca down by myself if you wanna go see the sights with Case."

Brax looked over at Heath and frowned "why would I do that?" he asked "I'm not here to sight see."

Heath shrugged "suit yourself, just thought you'd want time to think things through," he said and walked off.

"Why is he being weird?" Casey asked.

Brax started to walk "he's always weird mate, come on, I'm starving."

A while later they walked out of a café fully fed "I think the hotel is this way," Casey said pointing down the street.

Brax nodded and pulled out his phone "I better call Charlie and let her know we made it here."

Heath slapped Casey on the shoulder "we're gonna walk ahead and scope out the place," he said and led him away.

Brax glanced at them quickly then dialled Charlie's number "hello?" she muttered.

"Hey," he chuckled "someone doesn't sound too happy."

Charlie sighed heavily I'm fine…what's it like there?" she asked taking the attention away from herself.

"Cold, food is not the same and some of the people I cannot understand for the life of me…what's going on with you?"

"Brax's it's London not Africa or something, I'm sure some of them don't understand you…I'm fine, nothing to worry about here."

"I know you're lying, what's going on?" he asked.

"Alright," she groaned "my mum appeared after I dropped you guys off, she's still hanging around…I'm at work, can I call you back?" she asked.

"Why is she hanging around?" he asked.

"I don't know, she came by the house to see me and the girls but I got rid of her, Brax I have to head out I have to go."

"Are you okay with her being back?" he asked ignoring her.

Charlie chuckled "yes Brax I'm fine, stop worrying about me and go do what you're there to do…I have to go."

"Alright," he chuckled "I'll keep you updated, call me if you need to," he said and hung up.

* * *

Charlie dropped her phone and sighed heavily, she hated the fact he knew over the phone something was wrong with her-she also loved that about him too. She stood up and walked to Watson as she held out a file for her "thanks," she muttered.

Watson nodded "are you okay?"

Charlie nodded "I'm just tired it's been a hectic few days."

"Sure has," Watson chuckled "I'm still recovering from your party," she said and walked off "I'm here when you're ready to talk!" she called back.

Another person she hated could read her so well, dropping the file onto her desk she grabbed her keys "I'll be back in a few minutes!" she called on her way out.

A few minutes later she walked back in with two coffees and cake from the diner "break time Georgie!" she called and walked into her office.

Watson followed her and dropped into a chair "thanks," she said and took the coffee "ready to listen," she added and picked up her cake.

Charlie chuckled and picked at her cake "…I kissed Brax," she said and slowly brought her eyes up to meet Watson's.

Watson nodded "I knew something was going on but I just figured it was Ricky asking you to back off…how did you end up kissing him?"

Charlie blew out a breath "he came over and when he was leaving I brought up the divorce papers again, he snapped and started ranting that he missed me and he was only doing it all for Ricky. When I went to reply he cut me off saying he knew I missed him too and I just snapped and let it all out…I told him I loved him and it was killing me to stay away, that if this is what I had to do for him to be happy I'd do it."

"And that's when you kissed him?" Watson asked.

"No," Charlie sighed "he just looked at me for a few seconds then he kissed me."

Watson nodded again "but you guys are okay now?" she asked so what's going on then?" she asked when Charlie nodded.

"I don't know," Charlie groaned "when I gave him the tickets to London and he left, I closed the door over and started crying, my chest was so tight I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach…I don't know why I'm feeling like this but I really didn't want him to go-I had to."

Watson sighed and leaned closer to her "Charlie, that kiss probably triggered old memories, you're just confused with everything going on…what did he say about the kiss?"

Charlie shrugged "when it happened he said he had to go talk to Ricky like we were getting back together but I told him not to it wouldn't be happening again and ran off, we talked about it a few days later and agreed to forget about it."

Watson stood up as the desk phone rang "don't read too much into it….everything will be as it was soon, you'll see," she said and walked off.

….

The next morning Charlie yawned and walked into her house, knowing the girls would still be sleeping she walked into the living room and dropped onto the sofa. Looking down at the bracelet she played with it and sighed, sitting up she grabbed her phone and called Brax-chewing on her lip as it rang, what if he'd found Ricky? What if they were taking right now? What if they were making up right now? Hanging up quickly she threw the phone down and groaned "stop thinking about it Charlie."

"You going crazy there mum?" Cassie chuckled as she walked to the kitchen.

"Just a bit, what are you doing up so early?" she asked following her.

Cassie poured herself some coffee and turned back to her "I have to head up to the city and clear out my apartment. They'll be getting it ready for next years students, I've to be out by tomorrow or they'll throw it all out."

Charlie nodded "do you need me to come and help?"

"No thanks, dad said I could take his Ute, Kyle is coming too and Noah so you get to bed," she replied and walked by her back towards the stairs.

Charlie walked back to the sofa and picked up her phone, A few hours sleep is just what she needed to forget about everything swimming around in her ticking brain.

As she got to the top of the stairs Ruby stumbled out of her room pulling on shoes "why are you up so early?" she chuckled "Cassie's up too," she added.

"Yeah, and she was supposed to wake me!" Ruby yelled towards Cassie's room "I've to open Angelo's since Kyle is going to the city with her and now I'm gonna be late…bye mum!" she called and ran down the stairs and out the door.

Charlie shook her head and walked to her own room, closing the door behind her she walked to her bed and threw her phone down. Stripping out of her uniform she threw it on the floor and pulled a shirt on before climbing into the bed.

She had just lay down when the door opened and Cassie stuck her head in "mum, is it okay if Ellie comes and stays tonight?" she asked "she'll be heading back to Queensland soon I just wanna spend a bit of time with her."

Charlie nodded "that's fine sweetie, just make sure her parents know she's here, they can call me if they need to."

"Thanks mum…later!" she called and closed the door.

Charlie snuggled into her covers and closed her eyes praying her brain switched off for a few hours.

* * *

Heath Casey and Brax left their hotel to go looking for the girls. After they settle into the hotel yesterday they went in search of them. The receptionist in their hotel had told them they'd be out all day to come back this evening.

As they rounded the corner they came into view on their way out of the hotel. "There they are," Casey said "now you've found them I'm gonna head off…I have my phone," he called as he walked the other way.

Brax felt his phone vibrate and stopped, pulling it out he frowned at the missed call from Charlie "you coming mate?" Heath asked.

Brax looked down at the girls who were yet to notice them, looking down at the phone he sighed "nah mate, I'll talk to her later, I've something to take care of!" he called as he walked away with the phone to his ear.

Heath watched him go and sighed he knew what he had to take care of "choose wisely mate!" he called getting Ricky and Bianca's attention.

"Heath?" Bianca asked as they stopped in front of him "what are you doing here?"

Ricky looked beyond him to see Brax walking away on the phone "is that Brax?" she asked her heart slightly jumping 'he came all this way for me' she thought to herself.

Heath glanced behind him "uh yeah…something wrong with Angelo's," he lied and turned to Bianca "I flew all this way to talk to you, to see if we can work this out. I know you said you needed time but babe I can't bare to lose you."

Bianca sighed and looked at Ricky "go on B," Ricky smiled "I'll be just fine having dinner on my own…you two need to talk."

"Thanks Rick!" Heath called after her "Case is wandering about on his own if you wanna call him!"

Around the corner Brax was on the phone to Charlie "is your mum still hassling you?" he asked.

"Haven't heard anything…have you found Ricky and B yet?" she asked.

"Heath found Bianca Ricky wasn't with her," he lied "she started the job or something…how're the girls?"

"Brax," she chuckled "they're fine, you were talking to them last night remember?"

"I know, I'm just not used to being so far away from them…are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm good, so, how's London today? Any better than yesterday?" she asked

"To be honest this place sucks," he chuckled "I think I'll be home soon."

"I wouldn't be complaining about that," she flirted without realising it.

Brax smiled to himself, seems she was on the same page too "I can't wait to get home and see you, I don't think I should have come here at all."

"No," she sighed again without realising it "but you're there now you should see it through," she added.

Brax smiled and looked up to see Ricky standing there with tears running down her cheeks "I'll call you back," he said and hung up "Rick it's not what you think," he said quickly.

"Save it," she sniffed "I was so happy when I saw you, that you'd flown all this way for me, then I find you flirting with your wife saying you shouldn't have come…we're done for good! Just go home Brax!" she cried and ran off.

"Ricky wait!" he yelled and ran after her. "Ricky!" he yelled when she jumped into a taxi. He started to run after it "Ricky!" he yelled again "Ri-" he was cut off when car came out of nowhere and sent him to the ground. Looking up at the sky everything hurt, that's all he remembered before it all went black.

…

Later that evening Bianca let herself into her hotel room alone with a smile on her face to find Ricky on the bed staring at the wall "we do have a tv you know," she said and walked to her "did you get to talk to Brax?" she asked climbing on beside her.

"Briefly," she sniffed and wiped her face a tears fell. "How'd it go with Heath?" she asked.

"Good, he's gone back to his hotel, we're meeting again in the morning…Didn't go well with Brax then?" Bianca asked scooting closer to her.

Ricky shrugged and played with her hands "I walked up behind him to hear him on the phone to Charlie saying he couldn't wait to see her and he shouldn't have come here…he was flirting with her B!" she cried.

Bianca sighed heavily she didn't care what anyone told her she always knew they were still in love with one another and it would come out sometime…she couldn't tell Ricky that though. Looking over at her she slid her hand on top of hers "I'm sure that's not what you heard, maybe you misheard him-maybe it was one of the girls he was saying he couldn't wait to see, you know what he's like with them he can't go five minutes without worrying about one of them."

"No," Ricky sighed and looked down at her phone as it rang to see Brax flash on the screen. Cancelling the call she threw the phone down " it was her, you should have seen the smile on his face…it's the one he wears when he sees Charlie, oh go to hell!" she yelled as he phone rang again, cancelling it she turned off the phone and threw it back on the bed.

Bianca reached into her bag as her own phone rang to see Brax calling her "it's Brax," she said "will I answer?"

"No," Ricky muttered "what's the point? There's nothing left to say," she added and walked off to the bathroom.

Sighing Bianca cancelled the call and stood up "stupid Braxton's" she muttered kicking off her shoes "why do they have to make thing so complicated? She'd enough to worry about with her own life she thought as she looked for clothes to change into unaware how important those calls were.

* * *

Charlie jumped up from her sleep as her phone bellowed beside her, groaning she yawned and answered it "hello?" she asked sleepily, she didn't recognise the number.

"My name is Sarah Tamson, I'm a nurse at St Thomas's hospital, we have a patient here by the name of Daryl Braxton, he's been in an accident. Can I confirm your relationship?" she asked "we're calling everyone in his phonebook looking for a relative."

Charlie leapt out of the bed "he's my husband…what happened?"

"He was hit by a car, but we're having some unusual responses, nothing we're giving him seems to be working, we were wondering if you'd be able to shed some light on his medical history."

"Did he bang his head?" Charlie asked as she pulled on clothes.

"Yes, he has a head injury along with some others" the nurse replied.

Charlie sighed "a couple of years ago he had surgery, the doctor said if he got one more blow that would be the end of him…is he gonna be okay?" she asked as she ran down the stairs.

"It's hard to say at the moment, you should get down here as quick as you can we need someone to sign some papers."

Charlie sighed heavily as she jumped into her car "I'm still in Australia, I'll be there as soon as I can," she said and pulled away. "In the meantime, he's there with his brothers,-Casey and Heath Braxton or his sister-in law Bianca Scott keep calling them."

"I will, the nurse replied "and thank you for you help, we'll see you soon," she said and hung up.

Racing to the station where she knew Peter was on nights she jumped out of her car and swiped at her face as she ran inside "where's Pete!" she cried.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" Jack asked hurrying around the desk.

"Brax's been in a car accident, I need to get there…where's Pete?" she yelled.

"I'm here, calm down Charlz," he said and led her to her office "what happened?" he asked.

"I don't know!" she cried "a nurse called me from London saying he' d been hit by a car, no one was with him so they had to call everyone in his phone…why was he on his own?" she yelled.

Jack and Peter looked at one another and pulled out their phones, Peter sighed and shook his head at two missed calls from Brax.

Jack nodded to say he'd received the same, putting his phone away he turned to Charlie "I'll assume you're going now?"

Charlie nodded "I have to, he's on his own, I don't know if they got in touch with Casey or Heath yet, she said she'd try again," she said turning to Pete "I need you to call your mate from the F.B.I, I need to get there as quickly as I can."

Peter nodded and walked to his desk "I'll call him now, go wait in the car, I'll take you to the airport-Jack go with her."

Charlie nodded and walked outside "Jacky, will you check in on the girls? Don't tell them what happened yet."

Jack nodded "he'll be fine Charlz," he said and closed the door as Peter came out "call me when you know anything."

Peter climbed in and started up his car "you'll need this," he said handing her her passport and an envelope of money.

"Thanks Pete," she sniffed and tucked it into her pocket.

….

A few hours later she raced along the hallways of the hospital "Daryl Braxton?" she asked skidding to a stop at the desk

"Are you his wife?" the nurse asked.

Charlie nodded "I am, is he okay? Where is her? Have you gotten in touch with his brothers?" she rambled.

"Calm down Mrs Braxton," the nurse said leading her towards his room "he's fine, he's sleeping now, he has a head injury and a broken leg. We'll be keeping him in for a few days…didn't you say on the phone you were in Australia?" she asked as Charlie walked into Brax's room.

Charlie stared at his chest just to know for herself he was still alive, when it went up and down she looked over at her "yeah, I was in bed," she replied.

"You got here pretty quick," the nurse said as she led her to a chair.

Charlie nodded "I'm a cop, I used a contact and got an F.B.I jet here-it's half the time," she added and sat down.

The nurse smiled and started to back out of the room "that is real love right there, I hope he knows how lucky he is to have you."

"Thanks…sorry!" she called "did you get in touch with anyone here?"

"No, they still haven't replied to any of the messages," the nurse said.

"Thanks," Charlie replied "I'll send them a message to let them know I'm here."

Turning to Brax she sighed and looked at his bruised face and body "what have you done to yourself?"

Slipping her hand into his she moved closer to the bed "you better wake up soon Brax, your girls are gonna be pretty pissed at you if you don't come home soon…I will too," squeezing his hand she sat back in the chair still holding it and closed her eyes.

A few hours later Casey came tearing into the room, spotting Charlie he turned back to the nurse "when did she get here?"

A few hours ago, the nurse replied "she flew from Australia…is she not supposed to be here?" she asked unsure of his face.

Casey smiled and looked over at her "yeah, she's his wife, he'll be happy to see her when he wakes up…thank you," he said and walked to the bed. Giving Brax the once over he pulled a chair over and sat beside Charlie, looking at their joined hands he smiled again-he always knew there was still something there, shrugging off his coat he placed it over Charlie and sat back waiting on Brax to wake up.

* * *

The next morning Casey had left to get Charlie some coffee, she still hadn't woken up yet. Brax groaned and opened his eyes, going to use his hands to pull him self up he looked down when something stopped him. Following the hand to see Charlie he frowned, looking around for other people he looked back to her. Smiling to himself he tugged her hand "oi, wakey wakey," he chuckled.

Charlie opened her eyes, getting her bearings she jumped up "Brax! Are you okay?" she asked moving closer to him.

"Like I got hit by a bus…did you fly all the way here?" he asked.

Charlie nodded "it was a car by the way, they called everyone is your phone book, your brothers Ricky or Bianca never answered…what happened?" she asked sitting back down.

Brax tried to think back his head was killing him and everything was all muddled "it was after I got off the phone to you I think, Ricky was behind me…she heard me say I shouldn't have come here then she took off. I ran after her, she jumped into a taxi so I took off after and next thing I know I'm here."

Charlie nodded "no one has been here to see you yet…do you know where they are?" she asked "I'll have to go find them," she added.

Brax looked down at the coat around her "Case was wearing that last time I saw him so he's here somewhere, he's probably been in touch with Heath so I wouldn't worry about them."

Charlie looked down at the coat wrapped around her "he must have gotten here after I fell asleep…do you want me to call Ricky again?" she asked.

"No," he mumbled and turned his head "I think she saw me get hit by the car and still kept going-I'm not too sure now I could be wrong," he added as Charlie's eyes flashed with anger.

"Ah, you're awake," Casey said sitting down beside Charlie " you gave us quite a scare, how are you feeling?"

"Alright," he replied "where were you?" he asked "the nurse said she'd been calling you two."

Casey looked down at his cup feeling ashamed with himself "I kinda met a girl and ended up back at her place…sorry," he muttered.

Brax chuckled "don't be sorry, you're here for fun…did Heath sort things out with Bianca?"

Casey shrugged "I haven't heard from him and he hasn't replied to any of my messages."

Charlie stood up "I better go call the girls, I ran out of the house last night without saying anything, I asked Jack to keep an eye and not tell them what happened…I'll be back," she said and walked outside.

"Charlie!" he called and waited for her to stick her head in "tell them I'm fine and I'll be home in a few days."

Charlie nodded and started to walk down the hall-stopping in her tracks when Ricky slowly walked towards her.

….

"Should have known you'd be here," Ricky hissed bitterly.

"Where you should have been!" Charlie yelled back "where the hell were you?"

"That's none of your business," Ricky said and went to walk around her.

"Hey," Charlie said grabbing her wrist "Brax knows you saw him get hit by the car and kept going…what is wrong with you?" she asked "why did you just leave him there?"

"I heard him on the phone to you that's what's wrong!" Ricky hissed "and I kept going because I was upset and mad and at the time thought he deserved it! I'm here to tell him we're over for good…I'm not coming back to Summer bay."

Charlie grabbed her wrist as she walked off again "he's just woken up, he has a head injury no way in hell am I letting you in there to drop that on him now…and if we weren't in a hospital right now you'd be dead for leaving him there!" she hissed "get lost Ricky, he'll eventually figure out you're not coming back!"

Ricky sighed heavily "he'll hate you for keeping me from him."

Charlie shrugged "I think he'll get over it, why would he wanna see you after what you did to him?"

"Don't you think he should decide for himself?" Ricky asked

Charlie sighed heavily she was right and she had no right keeping her from him "come back tomorrow when he's a bit better, but if you open you mouth about not coming home I swear to god Ricky I will hurt you."

Ricky laughed "you know I always wondered why you tried so hard to make sure he was happy and not want to be with him…you like having control of him, you know he'll always be around."

Charlie stepped closer to her and narrowed her eyes "I love him and I'd be back with him tomorrow if he asked me to!"

Ricky smiled and stepped back "at least you're finally admitting it…go tell him that," she said and walked off down the hall.

In the room Brax and Casey had heard everything, Casey looked at Brax and saw him smiling "are you smiling about the fact she stuck up for you or the fact she said she still loves you?"

Brax chuckled "I'm smiling at the fact that she didn't knock her out the second she saw her."

Casey chuckled "she always did have a temper where it concerned you…you gonna tell her you love her too?"

"Nah mate," he sighed "she's pissed now she'll forget what she said later…go see when I can get outta here," he asked and turned to look out the window.

Casey stood up "you know Brax, if you think you have a shot at a second chance with her I'd go for it, she loves you, she has your kids, you're married, you get along-you both love each other…talk to her," he said and walked out the door.

Brax blew out a breath "what if she says no?" he asked out loud.

* * *

Three days later Charlie walked into his room "good morning," she smiled and sat on the bed "time to get you outta here."

"I ca go home?" Brax asked.

"Home no, to a hotel yes," Charlie replied "doctor said you've to come back in a week then he'll see if you can fly home."

"But I wanna go home," he groaned "what the hell am I supposed to do here for a week on my own?"

Charlie giggled and stood up "doctors orders and you won't be on your own."

Brax scoffed "Heath Case and Bianca all came in to say goodbye a while ago they're flying home today."

Charlie shook her head and walked out of the room, walking back with a wheelchair she leaned on it "I took holidays, I'll be staying with you until you can come home…get dressed, I'll go sign your papers," she said and walked out of the room.

Charlie arrived back and smiled at him as he stared at her "come on then, in you get," she said patting the chair.

Brax scooted over and lowered himself into it "I'm not staying in this thing."

Charlie giggled as she waved to the nurses and wheeled him down the hall "I have crutches in the car for you it's hospital rules you have to leave the grounds in this thing."

"I love you, you know that right?" he asked without looking up at her.

"I know," she nodded "I love you too."

"No, I mean I'm in love with you-like I used to be."

Charlie nodded and opened the door "me too…in you get."

Brax climbed into the car with a smile on his face, that wasn't so hard.

Charlie folded down the chair and put it in the boot smiling to herself she walked to the drive side, this was gonna be a fun week.

Arriving at the hotel Charlie led him to the lift "it's two floors up so you can't escape," she giggled.

Brax chuckled and followed her into the lift, turning to her he slid his hand onto her cheek, and smiled as he moved closer to her and kissed her sweetly.

Charlie stepped closer to him and deepened the kiss.

In the lobby Ruby gasped but before she could say anything Cassie's hand came over her mouth. As the doors closed she looked back at Kyle and smiled "maybe we should come back later."

"Let's go sight seeing, we'll ask can we leave our bags here," Kyle replied.

"Uh, shouldn't we let them know we're here?" Ruby asked.

"We have plenty of time for that," Cassie said and walked to the desk "they're gonna be pissed we flew here on our own with no clue where they were anyway so we're prolonging the yelling when you think about it."

Ruby nodded "just as well we ran into Heath and all at the airport, let's just hope uncle Jack or Pete don't call first."

….

In the room Charlie had left Brax to sleep walking to the phone she called home, when she got no reply she tried both girls phones. Sighing when each went to mail she called Hayley as she lived two doors away "hey Hayls," she greeted.

"Hey Charlz, how're you getting on? How's Brax?"

"Yeah good, Brax is fine-whining but fine," she giggled "hey, I need you to do me a favour, I've called the girls and the house and got no answer could you check in on them and call me back?"

"Uh," Hayley said slowly "I dropped to the airport last night, they should be there by now…Cassie told me you and Brax knew they were coming."

"What!" Charlie yelled waking Brax up "what do you mean you dropped them to the airport?"

"Charlie I'm sorry, they said you knew-even Pete thought you knew, he booked the flights for the three of them."

"Three?" Charlie asked "who's with them?"

"Kyle went with them….I'm so sorry Charlie I should have checked with you first."

"No, it's okay, I'm sorry I yelled…can you text me their flight details? Maybe they go delayed or something."

"I'll get Pete to send them on to you, call me when you find them," Hayley said and hung up.

"What's going on?" Brax asked.

Charlie sighed and turned back to him "seems our daughters and Kyle left for London last night…I'll have to go track them down," she said walking to her keys.

"What?" Brax yelled "on their own?" he added trying to stand up.

Charlie nodded "Pete booked the tickets, Hayls dropped them off… you stay here in case they come here."

"How will they know to come here?" he asked and grabbed his crutches "no one but Heath and Case know we're here and they're not even home yet!"

"Alright," Charlie sighed "I'll ask the girl on the desk to call us if they do check in here…I am going to kill those two," she huffed "I told them you were okay you just couldn't fly yet."

Brax nodded and followed her "well at least Kyle is smart, he'll keep an eye on them."

"He's in trouble too," Charlie said "if he's here and the others aren't home yet it means no one is looking after Angelo's."

Brax sighed and pulled out his phone "I'll kill him, I told him before not to close until he cleared it with me."

Charlie stepped into the lift and pressed the ground floor "where do we even start looking?"

"Big Ben," Brax said after a minute "Ruby was always going on about wanting to see that, and we both know she can always get her own way."

Charlie nodded and walked out when the doors opened "well let's just hope big Ben is big enough to hide them before I get my hands on them."

Brax chuckled and followed her although there was more drama to add he couldn't help be happy that it was her here with him.

**A/N hope you enjoyed that one, updates will be slower this week as I have a lot to do :) **


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie sighed as Brax called her to wait up, turning back to him she put her hands on her hips "I told you I'd be quicker on my own."

Brax caught up with her and shook his head "you're flying along Charlie the clock is not going anywhere."

"No," she said and started to walk again "but they might, I just want to find them Brax. They've never been here before, what if they get lost and can't find their way back to the hotel?"

"Oi," he said pulling her back "they'll be just fine alright, Kyle lived on his own for long enough and Cass has been living away for the last year, they'll look after Ruby so stop worrying."

Charlie sighed again and stopped "you're right," she said and walked back to him "how about we have a look around the clock and if they're not there we'll try calling them again."

Brax nodded and reached into his pocket "maybe we don't have to look anywhere," he said showing her the caller "Cassie Olivia Braxton you are in big trouble!" he yelled.

"Hey daddy…who told you?" she asked.

"Mum called home to check on you and Hayls told her…you lied to them and told them we knew?" he asked angrily.

"I know," she sighed "I knew they wouldn't let us come and we just wanted to see you…we're sorry," she muttered.

"Look it doesn't matter now," he sighed "we're out looking for you where are you?"

"We just left Buckingham palace, we on a bus to see big Ben," Cassie replied "we were going to come back to the hotel but Rubes started whining."

Brax chuckled he knew his youngest daughter so well "me and mum just got here we'll wait by the bus stop for you."

"Okay dad, we'll see you soon," she said and hung up.

"They're coming here?" Charlie asked as he hopped by her.

"Yeah," he replied and turned back to her "and don't have a go the second they get off the bus."

Charlie walked behind him "I know a lot has happened but that doesn't excuse them lying to everyone Brax, what if they hadn't made it here?" she asked "we would have thought they were fine at home and the others would have thought they were fine here with us…they have to get an earful."

"Look," he said slipping his hands on her waist "a lot of things are gonna change when we get home, since we're here now can't we just see this as a family holiday?"

Charlie looked up at him "we're just supposed to forget our daughters flew half away across the world without telling us?"

"No," he said lowering his head "when we get home they'll be in for it, just for now at least enjoy some of this trip," he said and kissed her.

Charlie pulled back and chuckled "fine, we'll deal with it at home," she said and walked off towards the bus stop.

….

Later that evening after a day of sight seeing and some dinner they all made their way back to the hotel "me and Kyle are gonna go the bar for a drink," Cassie said and pulled him away.

"Oh no you're not," Brax said waving them back "Kyle you're in a room with me and your mum is in with you girls…don't want you sneaking off again," he said and looked over at Charlie "see you in the morning then," he added.

Charlie nodded all day they'd kept their distance due to the fact the kids didn't know what had happened between them this morning-or so they thought. They didn't even know themselves what was going on yet "see you in the morning-night Kyle," she smiled and led the girls to another lift.

"So it's nine and we have to go to bed?" Ruby asked "is this our punishment?"

"No," Charlie chuckled "we're gonna sit in the room and have a girly night, it's been a rough week all round," she said as she let them into their room.

Just as she dumped her bag on the bed her phone rang, groaning she pulled it out "damn, forgot to call him…Pete?" she answered.

"Hey, how's it all going over there?" he asked.

"Yeah, good, we went out for the day," she replied.

"Great," he yawned "how are the girls?"

"They're great…it's like six am over there, why are you up so early?" she asked.

Peter yawned again "I'm up all night," he replied "you'll never guess who turned up at your door last night."

Charlie sighed "if it's mum again tell her I won't be home for a few weeks."

"It's not mum…it's dad," he said quickly.

"Great," Charlie muttered and looked to see were the girls listening "why do they always turn up at my door first?" she asked slipping outside.

"I have no idea, I was there checking on things, he was there when I opened the door I ran him before he could start so don't worry."

"So why are you still up if it's nothing to worry about?" she asked.

Peter sighed heavily "he slept outside Jack's house last night, I don't know what he's up to…you don't need to worry about it," he added quickly.

Charlie leaned against the wall "do you need me to come home?"

"No," he said quickly "you stay there with them you're better off, I can handle this."

"Pete you sound exhausted," she replied.

"I'll be fine, I gotta go, I love ya," he said and hung up

"Pete!" she took the phone away from her ear, shaking her head she looked up as someone leaned on the wall beside her.

"What has you out here?" Brax asked.

Charlie sighed heavily "fancy a drink?"

"What's wrong?" Brax asked.

"My dad's back in town," she said and opened the door "girls I'll be back soon, don't leave the room!" she said and closed it again before walking down the hall.

* * *

The next day Brax knocked on Charlie's door, the girls had arrived at his room saying she'd been up half the night pacing the room. Knocking again he sighed and leaned closer "Charlie!" he called "Charlie, I know you're in there the girls told me."

He took a step back when the door opened to revel her in a towel "sorry, I was in the shower I thought it was the maid or something, come in," she said walking back into the room.

Brax walked in and sat on the end of the bed "the girls tell me you were pacing last night," he said "any reason why?"

Charlie came out of the bathroom in clothes and threw stuff onto the bed "I have to go home Brax, my dad is up to something I just know he is, I can't leave Pete to deal with this alone."

Brax sighed and shook his head, to say he hated her dad would be an understatement "he's not alone, he has Jack and everyone else, but if you wanna go home we'll go home."

Charlie stopped packing and looked over at him "you can't fly yet, you'll have to stay here with the girls and Kyle."

"Do you really think I'm gonna let you go near him after what he did to you-to us?" he asked standing up "if you're going home we're all going together."

Charlie sat down on the side of the bed "after last time I thought we got rid of him for good, I need to go home and get rid of him once and for all."

"He's a dangerous man Charlie, you know that," he said and stood up

"I know that!" she yelled back "I have to get rid of him, I'm sick of being known as the daughter of a dirty cop! The daughter he tried to kill!"

Brax sighed and sat beside her "so what are you gonna do huh?" he asked nudging her "storm in there guns blazing?"

Charlie shrugged and stood up "guess we'll find out once we get there…you better go pack," she said without looking at him.

"Oh so I'm allowed now am I?" he asked walking closer to her "what about the rules?" he chuckled.

Charlie giggled and pulled him to her "we're stopping at the hospital first," she said and kissed him.

Brax pulled back and looked down on her "what's gonna happen when we get home?"

Charlie walked back to the bed and started to throw things into her case "we see what he's been up to and take it from there."

"I meant with us Charlie," he said walking to her "we can't just arrive home and say we're back together after all this time, the girls don't even know anything's happened."

Charlie nodded "right now I don't know Brax, we still have a lot to talk about, I mean we did break up for a reason, we'll talk about it at home…when dad's gone."

…..

A few hours later they walked away from the hospital and towards the car that held three sulky teenagers "you heard him Brax," Charlie said "he said it could be dangerous for you to fly for so long."

"Yeah, could be," he replied "look, the only way we're doing this is if we all go, if I have to stay you're all staying."

Charlie sighed heavily "I can take care of myself you know, you should be looking after that leg."

"We have doctors at home," he said and climbed into the car.

"I don't see why we have to go home now," Ruby grumbled "we've only been here a day."

"Yeah dad, didn't you say this was supposed to be a family holiday?" Cassie asked.

"I did and it's being cut short, there's something we need to take care of at home," he replied.

"Can't Heath or someone take care of it?" Kyle asked.

"No," Charlie answered "I have to take care of it myself," she said and pulled away for the airport.

Just as they pulled up at the airport Cassie looked down at her phone as it beeped, looking over to Ruby as hers did too she frowned and looked back to her own phone, reading the message her eyes went wide. She glanced at Charlie and looked at the message again, looking over at Kyle she turned the phone to him so he could see it.

He looked to see Charlie and Brax outside the car "don't even answer him," he said and climbed out.

"Mum!" Ruby called as she climbed out of the car "I got a message from gr-"

"I need to pee, Ruby come with me," Cassie said and began to pull her along "don't mention granddad around mum and dad you know that."

"I know, but isn't it weird he text us both after what? Like two years?" Ruby asked as they walked into the bathroom.

Cassie turned to her after making sure no one else was inside "don't mention it to anyone, don't text back, just forget about it," she said and pulled the door open.

"I thought you needed to pee!" Ruby called after her.

"It was just to get you to shut up!" Cassie called back "come on, the bags are ready to go!" she added.

"Moron," Ruby muttered and followed her.

"That was quick," Brax said once they reached them.

"They were out of order," Cassie said glancing at Ruby.

"Where are all our bags?" Ruby asked.

"Your mum and Kyle went ahead, we better catch up before they reach the desk," he replied and walked off.

Cassie looked back at Ruby "not a word about this Ruby," she said looking ahead to see was Brax listening "my guess is we're going home now because of him, and judging by mums face there's gonna be trouble."

Ruby sighed and followed her "just another day in the drama that is the family Braxton," she said and walked to Charlie.

* * *

Later that night they had landed and were now on their way home in a taxi "girls you'll have to stay at dads tonight, I have to go out," Charlie said as they turned onto his street.

"Mum I'm nineteen and Ruby is seventeen, we don't need a sitter," Cassie whined.

"You're staying at mine," Brax said and climbed out as the car stopped.

Kyle, Cassie and Ruby climbed out and grabbed their bags "see ya mum," Ruby muttered and walked inside.

Brax waited until they had gone inside and leaned into the car "you be careful," he said and kissed her quickly "I mean it Charlie, just a visit to Pete, you're not to go off and do anything by yourself."

"Yes I know Brax," Charlie replied "I'll be fine, I'm just going to the station."

Brax stepped "back call me when you're done," he said and closed the door.

A few minutes later Charlie climbed out of the taxi and made her way inside "hey Georgie, is Pete still here?" she asked walking to the desk.

"Yes," she sighed "please get him to go home, I don't like getting my head chewed off every ten seconds," she said and reached for the phone as it rang.

Charlie looked to his office and sighed walking to the door she tipped it in and saw him sitting back in his chair staring out the window. Walking in she closed the door over "come on," she said getting his attention "you've been here long enough."

"I thought I told you not to come home," he said.

Charlie sat on the side of the desk "I know you did, but I can read you too don't forget, come on," she said again "we're going for a walk then you're going home."

"I've too much to do," he muttered.

"And it can wait," Charlie said and opened the door "for everyone's sanity you need to come with me."

Peter sighed and stood up "alright but a coffee and a quick walk then I'm coming back," he said and followed her "see ya later babe," he said to Watson and dropped a kiss on her head as he passed.

"Yeah, later meaning tomorrow Pete!" she snapped after him.

Peter stopped and looked at Charlie "what's with her?" he asked.

Charlie chuckled "you're an idiot, you've been snapping at her all day….go sort it, I'll be in your car," she said and walked off.

Outside Charlie sat looking around waiting on him, looking towards the gates of the lot she spotted a guy standing there just watching her. Frowning she stood up and squinted to see did she recognise him, all she could make out was he was tall and had a hood up. As she went to take a step the guy took off the other way, before she could call out Peter stopped beside her "let's get moving then."

Charlie looked around as she climbed into the car "who was that?" she asked herself.

…..

Going to the diner they got a coffee and decided to sit along the pier "so what's happening with dad?" she asked pulling the lid off her coffee.

Peter sighed heavily and scrubbed his hands over his face "he came to see me this morning, he wanted to explain why he was outside Jack's."

Charlie chuckled "what was his excuse? No money for a motel?"

Peter chuckled "he said someone he knew had been in touch with him and had told him mum has arranged for someone to kill us three."

Charlie laughed to herself and took a sip of her coffee "seriously?" she asked.

Seriously he replied "I wasn't falling for any of it I told him to get lost the next I saw him I'd arrest him."

Charlie shook her head "there must be something wrong with him if that's the best he could come up with, have you seen him since?"

"No," he replied and took a sip of his coffee "but he did say something that had me thinking. Ricky arrived home the other morning," he started "I saw her and mum on the beach but I didn't think anything of it, I just assumed she was looking for us or something."

Charlie nodded "and now you don't think it was that?"

"I don't know," he yawned "when you introduced her to mum after she got with Brax she was rude and had no time for her she didn't want to get to know her. She even told her to stay away from the kids, why all of a sudden would she be talking to her?"

Charlie shrugged and stood up "maybe Ricky stopped her, they could have been talking about anything. You should get home I can walk from here."

Peter stood up and started to walk with her "so what's happening with Brax and Ricky? Are they back together?"

"No," Charlie said quickly "and they won't be either, Ricky saw him get knocked down and didn't even stop to see was he okay."

Peter nodded as they stopped at his car "that's a deal breaker, you sure you don't want a lift home?"

"I'm fine, I'll be home in two minutes," she said and kissed him on the cheek" you better go straight home Pete, you need to sleep," she said and stepped back.

"I will," he yawned "call me when you get home!" he called after her.

I will, I'll see ya tomorrow!" she called back.

Charlie arrived home and pulled out her key as she walked around the back of her house, turning the corner she stopped in her tracks shaking her head she walked towards the door "what do you want dad?" she asked as she unlocked the door.

Tony stood up "five minutes to talk to you then I'll be gone," he said walking to her.

Charlie turned back to him "what makes you think I have any interest in what you have to say?"

"Charlie please," he said taking a step closer to her "five minutes is all I ask."

Charlie sighed and opened her door "you got four minutes," she said and walked inside.

* * *

Making them tea she placed the cups down and sat across from him "Pete's already told me about your crazy accusations so if you're here for that you can just go, we don't buy it dad and we're not going to either."

Tony sighed "it's not an accusation Charlie," he said seriously "this guy was pretty clear on your mothers plan."

"Okay," Charlie said crossing her arms "say it was true and mum was trying to kill us, what would she gain from it?" she asked "she doesn't see us we don't' see her, we're not hassling her what could she get from it?"

Tony looked down at his cup "when each of you joined the force she took out insurance policies on you," he said and looked over at her "in the event of your deaths she would gain hundreds of thousands."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand for each of us," Charlie replied "Pete figured that out a long time ago dad. She thought we didn't know but when Jack got shot that time and was in the coma mum was determined to turn off his life support. Since Jack was married to Martha by then and she was his next of kin mum had no say in it-not that we would have let her anyway."

"So?" Tony asked "she tried her best to convince Martha to turn it off."

"And Pete knew something was going on," Charlie replied "we looked into it and found the policies, we got a warrant and had them cancelled…there is no money dad."

Tony nodded "but your mother doesn't know that."

"No," Charlie said and stood up "and she won't try kill us either, I don't know who told you this dad but whoever it is they're wrong, this is all crazy."

"He's not wrong Charlie," Tony said and stood up "I used this guy a few times for jobs I didn't want traced back to me, he'd do anything for the right money."

Charlie sighed heavily "I don't know what else to say dad except it's not gonna happen, mum doesn't have it in her for starters, we're her kids as much as we're screwed up she's our mum she'd never hurt us…physically."

Tony sighed again "I'm not kidding around here Charlie she has someone else in on it too, I don't know who I just know it's a woman."

Charlie walked to the door and opened it "right, we'll keep an eye out then dad, we're all cops we can look after ourselves…will you please go now?" she asked.

Tony walked to her "I promise you Charlie I'm not up to any tricks or anything like it, I know this is the truth and she will hurt you all…please be extra careful," he said and slipped out the door.

Charlie watched him go and sighed heavily why can't she have normal parents?

…..

The next morning Charlie arrived at Brax's and let herself in, she stopped when she found Ruby and Cassie leaning either side of the door that led to the bedrooms "what's going on?" she asked.

"Ricky's here," Cassie muttered.

"In the bedroom?" Charlie asked looking down the hall wondering why the door was closed.

"Not with dad," Ruby said quickly "she came to get her stuff and dad was only too happy to help her."

Charlie nodded and walked by them "you girls can go out if you want to."

"And miss this?" Cassie laughed "no way."

Charlie turned back to her "miss what?" she asked.

"She was crying saying she was sorry she loved him and she missed him," Ruby said and looked over at Charlie "dad didn't buy into it though."

"Alright," Charlie said and walked down the hall opening his door she walked in and went to say something-freezing in her tracks.

There was Brax and Ricky kissing heatedly, at first she thought Ricky had tried it on but then she saw Brax's arms wrapped around her-and he was definitely kissing her back. Gasping she quickly took a step back hitting the door.

Brax pulled away and his eyes went wide "Charlie?" he said and darted his eyes to Ricky.

Charlie bit on her lip she would not cry she would not let see that bitch she had hurt her "just came to check on you…you look fine," she said and hurried from the room as the tears spilled over.

"Mum?" Ruby frowned as she hurried by her and out the front door.

"Mum what happened?" Cassie asked running after her.

"Charlie!" Brax yelled running after her as best he could knocking Cassie out of the way "babe it's not what you think okay," he said as she shoved him away.

Charlie turned back to him "you don't have to explain yourself to me Brax."

"Yes I do," he said quickly "I love you Charlie I wanna be with you I've always only ever wanted you," he said taking a step to her.

Charlie looked beyond him as a smirking Ricky stopped behind Ruby and Cassie. Anger washed over her turning to her door she pulled it open "too bad!" she hissed "you can't have me! Don't contact me unless it concerns the girls! I swear to god Brax if you turn up at my door or call me I will have you arrested!" she hissed and sped away.

Brax sighed and watched her speed away "well then," he turned and looked back at Ricky as she spoke "guess you're all mine again."

Without warning Cassie punched her in the face "no he's not!" she yelled "mum and dad are back together you're not in the picture anymore!" she yelled and stormed off.

"You knew?" Brax asked.

"Yes," Ruby said and followed Cassie "you blew it again! You're an idiot dad!" she called back.

* * *

On the beach Charlie sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, sighing she rested her chin on them "what was I thinking? Why the hell did even consider giving things another go?"

"You alright there Charlz?" Jack chuckled and sat beside her.

"Hey," she said and hugged him.

When she didn't pull back Jack looked down on her "what's going on?"

Charlie leaned further into him "Brax and I sorta got back together in London."

"Sorta?" Jack asked.

"Well we did," she started "he told me he still loved me and wanted to be with me so we were gonna talk once we got home. When Pete called I pushed it back saying I had to sort dad out first, when I went over to see Brax and the girls he was in his room with Ricky."

"Okay," Jack said slowly.

Charlie sighed heavily "I walked in on a heated make out session."

"So they're back on then?" Jack frowned.

"I don't know, I took off before he could say anything" Charlie replied and sat up properly "we're not and now we're not going to be so he may as well be with her."

"He could have been saying goodbye, why didn't you listen to what he had to say?"

"Because she was standing there looking at me with a stupid grin on her face, I was close to tears I wasn't letting her see she got to me," she muttered.

Jack sighed and pulled her back to him "do you love Brax?" he asked.

Charlie nodded "of course I do, I never stopped we just couldn't go on as we were anymore one of us had to go."

"Well then," Jack said and stood up "go over and talk to him, let him explain what happened and see where you go from there," he said pulling her to her feet.

"But what if he's chosen her?" she asked.

"You've watched them together for over a year Charlie, you'll find a way to deal with it," he replied as they walked.

"It's different now Jack, when I got there and saw him in that bed my heart broke. I asked myself why I ended things in the first place, I knew then I'd never love anyone as much as Brax and I know I never will," she said and looked over at him "it hurts so much and I have no clue what to do now," she whimpered.

"Charlie, you won't know anything until you go talk to him."

"You're right," she said and wiped her face "I'm gonna go talk to him now, I'll call you later," she said and walked up to her car.

Pulling away she prepared what she was going to say, as a bend came into view she pressed on the brake to slow down. Looking down when nothing happened she pressed it again "what the?" Before she could react she went straight into a lamp post, shooting forwards she banged her head off the wheel and slumped forward unconscious.

…..

A few minutes later she groaned and pulled herself up "ow," she muttered and rested her head back on the seat. Reaching up she felt her forehead and pulled her hand back, looking at blood she closed her eyes. Blowing out a breath as her head spun she reached over to her holder and pulled back with her phone, frowning she tried to remember Jack's number as he'd be closest. When nothing would come to her she closed her eyes again and tried to remember her speed dial list, hitting two she put the phone to her ear "Jack?" she mumbled.

"No it's Pete…are you drunk at this time of day?" he asked.

Charlie winched as he head ached "I've crashed," she muttered.

"What!" he yelled "Charlie are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked panicked.

"My head," she mumbled "I think it's a con…" she trailed off as the words disappeared.

"Where are you?" Peter asked.

"I just left the beach, I was with Jack."

"What street did you take?" Peter asked.

"I was going to Brax's," she muttered "Pete…I can't get my belt open."

"It's probably jammed, I'll be there in a minute, keep talking to me Charlie!" he yelled as he ran towards his car. "Jack!" he yelled when he spotted him walk off the beach "Charlie's been in a car crash!"

"What! I just left her five minutes ago!" he yelled and jumped in beside him.

"Charlie I'll be there in a sec are you still there?"

"My head hurts," she mumbled.

"Pete!" Jack yelled as he car came into view.

"We're here Charlie we're here, you're gonna be okay," he said and jumped out of the car.

Charlie dropped her phone and closed her eyes it hurt to even blink. She slowly opened her eyes when her door was yanked open "I can't get out," she mumbled.

"It's okay you just stay still," Peter said leaning over her, pulling at her belt buckle he sighed in frustration and pulled back "we're gonna have to call the fire department I can't get it off!" he called to Jack.

"I have a scissors in my car!" Leah yelled, she was on her way to the diner and stopped when she spotted Charlie's car "will that do?"

"We ca try it," Jack said and went around the other side of the car "do you remember what happened?" he asked sitting in beside her.

"Brakes wouldn't work," she muttered.

Jack and Peter looked at one another "when was the last time you got your car serviced Charlie?" he asked.

"The morning I asked you to pick me up from the garage," she replied.

Peter sighed heavily "that was only two weeks ago they should have been working."

Jack climbed out and walked to the front of the car lying down he looked under it "damn it," he said and pulled back "it's leaking…you don't think it was what dad said?"

Peter shook his head "no, that's all bull," he said and turned back to Charlie.

* * *

A while later Cassie and Ruby had returned to Brax's to find Ricky and her stuff gone and Brax alone but still wouldn't speak to him.

Cassie looked down at her phone as it rang "uncle Jack," she greeted.

"Hey kiddo," he said and looked at Charlie being checked out by a medic "I don't want you to panic alright."

"Why would I panic?" she asked and shrugged as Ruby raised an eyebrow.

Jack sighed "mums been in a car accident Cass."

"What!" she shrieked and jumped up "dad!" she yelled frantically.

Brax jumped off his bed and hurried to the living room "what?" he asked watching her pace.

"Cass listen to me!" Jack yelled over her "she's okay do you hear me she's okay, she banged her head so we have to take her to the hospital."

Cassie sniffed and wiped her face "you could have started with that you moron! You scared the life outta me…we'll be there now," she said and hung up.

"What is it Cass?" Ruby asked standing up.

"Mum's been in a car accident…dad where's your keys?" she asked.

"What!" both Ruby and Brax yelled "is she okay? What happened? Cassie answer me!" he yelled when she continued to look for his car keys.

"Cassie!" Ruby screeched when she still didn't answer "is mum okay!"

"She banged her head Jack is going to the hospital with her," she said and picked up Brax's keys.

"I'm coming," he said and hobbled after them.

"I don't think mum will want you there," Cassie said.

"I don't care I'm still coming," he said and climbed into the passenger seat.

When they arrived at the hospital they found Peter and Leah sitting in the waiting area "where is she?" Cassie cried.

"Calm down Cass," Peter said "Jack is in with her and Sid now, we'll know when he comes out."

A few minutes later Jack and Sid walked out of the room "how is she?" Brax asked.

"A little concussion and a twisted ankle, other than that she's fine. I'm going to keep her for observation tonight, she can go home in the morning after I do another scan," Sid explained.

"Can we see her?" Ruby asked.

"She's sleeping now Rubes," Jack said.

"I don't care I just want to see her," Ruby whimpered "I won't wake her."

"Should she be sleeping if she banged her head?" Cassie asked.

"She's fine," Sid answered "we're monitoring her, she'll be woken in an hour and we'll see how she is then…I have another patient to see, I'll be back soon," he said and walked down the hall.

"Thanks Sid," Peter said and looked over at the girls "you can see her for five minutes then I'm taking you home."

"Five minutes," Ruby nodded and walked around them.

Jack walked over to Brax "you can go in too if you want."

"I'll let the girls go first," he said and sat down.

Jack sat beside him and looked to see where Peter and Leah where "Charlie told me what happened this morning, what's happening there?"

Brax looked over at him before looking straight ahead of him "Ricky is gone," he replied

"Good," Jack nodded "and Charlie?" he asked.

"Is my wife and I love her with everything I have, if she'll still have me I want us to give things another go," he replied.

Jack nodded again and stood up "she does, she's just afraid of getting hurt again…make sure she knows you want this as much as her," he said and walked off.

….

A few hours later Peter Jack and Leah had left taking the girls with them, Brax now sat at her bedside the last time Sid had woken her he asked Brax to wait outside afterwards he told him he could go back in that she was fine and was sleeping again. Leaning forward he tucked some hair behind her ear "I love you so much you know," he said and stroked her cheek "I want this to work so bad, I want you Charlie, it's always been you."

Sitting back he sighed heavily nothing was ever easy where it concerned them.

A few minutes later he stood up and walked to the window, looking behind him as he heard movement he saw her eyes flutter "babe?" he asked softly.

Charlie opened her eyes and looked around for a few seconds, when her eyes landed on Brax she just stared at him she hadn't the energy to argue with him now "Ricky?" was all she asked.

"Gone for good," he said and walked to the bed "she took all her stuff, I told her I wanted you," he added and sat down.

Charlie just nodded and closed her eyes again "I love you," she mumbled.

"Love you to babe," he smiled and kissed her on the forehead "get some sleep," he added and just sat watching her.

Down the station Jack walked into Peter's office "here's the report on Charlie's car," he said handing it to him "it was defiantly tampered with," he added.

Peter looked over it "her brakes were cut?" he asked.

Jack nodded "I spoke to Hayley, she called me after the accident she said she'd been at the diner and Charlie's car was there when she pulled in."

Peter frowned "and what has that got to do with anything?"

"She saw a guy under her car," Jack replied "she said she called him out, when he stood up he had a phone in his hand and said he'd dropped it as he walked by so she let him go and didn't think anything of it."

"Would she recognize him again?" Peter asked standing up.

Jack nodded "she's on her way down…Pete I think we should call dad in and get the name of the guy that came to him with this mum business."

Peter sighed "that's not happening Jack you know dad will say anything to wind us up."

"Her brakes were cut Pete!" he yelled "the day after dad told her about it! We have to see this as a possibility!"

"Fine," he sighed "you call him in and make a fuss over him I'll have no part in this…send Hayley into Charlie's office when she gets here," he said and walked off.

* * *

Back at the hospital Charlie was fully awake now "can't I go home now?" she groaned.

"No," Brax chuckled "you heard Sid babe you're staying overnight."

"But I'm fine now, I don't even had a headache and this place sucks," she muttered.

Brax chuckled again and leaned over her "I'm staying with you," kissing her slowly he pulled back "the girls know about us in London," he said.

"How?" she asked.

Brax chuckled "they saw us in the lift that's why they didn't come right up to the room, they wanted to give us some space."

"Why didn't they just say that then?" she giggled "so what now?" she asked.

Brax kissed her again "when we get home tomorrow we're gonna sit down and talk about us properly."

"What's there to talk about?" she asked "we're back together…gimme back my rings," she giggled.

Brax shook his head "we're a married couple that live in separate houses, does that sound normal to you?" he asked.

"So move back in," Charlie said seriously.

Brax chuckled and sat back "I think that knock to the head caused more damage than Sid said."

"What?" she asked "it makes sense."

"Babe we still have to talk to the girls and see how they feel about is being back together, we can't jump into this we have to take it slow," he replied

Charlie nodded "you're right, we'll talk to them tomorrow."

"You don't need to, we know you're back together" came Cassie's voice from the doorway

"Hey, I thought you uncles took you home," Brax asked.

"They went to the station so we came back," Ruby said and sat on the bed "you two being back together is the best thing ever," she added.

"Yeah dad we'll go home right now and pack your stuff up, you'll be home tomorrow," Cassie added.

"Girls slow down," Brax said and looked at Charlie "your mum has to get better we still have to talk, a lot of things have to be sorted out before we even consider me moving back home."

"You're such a girl," Cassie huffed "you love her she loves you we miss you, move back home-that simple."

Brax chuckled and pulled her into him "not that simple baby, we broke up for a reason we still need to talk about that."

"So talk now, we'll go," Ruby said pulling Cassie off the bed.

"Girls," Charlie giggled "I know you're excited here so I need you to really listen to me," she said and waited for them to nod. "Dad and I have a lot to talk about and work out before he moves home so please be patient."

"Fine," Ruby grumbled "I'm gonna go get a drink," she said and walked out of the room.

"And I'm starving," Cassie said following her.

"They don't listen," Brax chuckled and leaned in to kiss her "but on the upside, I get to be alone with you," he said and kissed her slowly.

Charlie deepened the kiss and slid her hand up into his hair "this is it now Brax if you have any doubts or regrets you need to tell me now."

"The only regret I have is ever letting you go in the first place, this is our second chance babe and I plan on accounting for every second of it," he said and kissed her again.

**A/N so another chapter bites the dust, sorry for the delay I haven't had much time this week. What do we think of Charlie's dad and what he revealed? Hope you enjoyed this one see ya soon ****J**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey all, so sorry for the long wait but a new job title can only mean one thing-training after training I had no time at all to write…forgive me ****J**

The next morning Charlie smiled at Sid as he left her room, she was allowed to go home as long as she took it easy and stayed off work for a few days. Looking over at Brax as she got dressed she sighed, last night her head was sore and she was too tired to argue about Ricky-now she was just in a bad mood and wanted answers, she looked over at him again as he moved.

"Hey," he yawned "Sid said you could go?" he asked as she pulled on her jacket.

Charlie nodded and turned back to the bed "yep, as long as I stay off the ankle," she replied and gathered her stuff.

"I'll do that," he offered and stood up.

"It's a few shower bits and yesterdays clothes, I think I can manage," she said and shoved them into a bag.

Brax frowned at her tone but put it down to her not getting a good sleep last night "how's your head this morning?" he asked walking to the bed.

"Little headache, I'll be fine," she said and picked up her phone "you should go home and get a proper sleep."

Brax frowned again "I'm coming home with you," he said slowly.

"I don't need a babysitter, I'll be fine on my own," she replied.

Brax sighed "alright, what's wrong with you?" he asked "clearly it's not just getting enough sleep."

"Why did you kiss Ricky?" she yelled and flung her bag down "after everything you said to me why did you kiss her and ruin any chance we had?" she yelled.

Brax stared at her for a few seconds "what do you mean chance we had?" he asked "Charlie you told me you loved me yesterday I thought we were okay."

"Well we're not," she snapped "I don't know what the hell I was thinking letting it go just like that!"

Brax sighed again and walked in front of her "I love you, I want to be with you, Ricky is out of the picture for good."

"Then why did you kiss her yesterday-while your daughters were in the next room might I add!" she hissed.

Brax blew out a deep breath "you want the truth?" he asked.

"Yes, that would be nice," she said sarcastically.

Brax opened his mouth to explain when the door opened and the girls appeared "we'll talk once you're home," he said and turned to them "hey girls," he smiled "you're here early."

"Hey dad," Ruby replied "we wanted to get here early and see if mum could come home today."

"We just talked to Sid and he said you could," Cassie added with a smile.

Charlie smiled back and grabbed her bag "we're going now," she said and started to hobble.

"Here, hold onto me," Brax said walking to her.

Charlie opened her mouth to argue but stopped "let's go then," she said and slipped her arm into Brax's.

"You think they were arguing over Ricky again?" Cassie asked as they walked down the hall.

"No doubt, and my guess is it isn't over yet," Ruby sighed.

….

When they arrived home Cassie and Ruby climbed out of the car and started to walk down the drive "we're gonna go to dads, we'll be back later," Cassie said.

"Call us if you need anything!" Ruby called.

Brax sighed as he helped Charlie into the house "they're not stupid you know, they know something is going on."

"They were there yesterday of course they know something's going on," she replied and dropped onto the sofa.

Brax sat on the coffee table in front of her "Ricky arrived yesterday for her stuff, while we were in the living room she started saying she was sorry and she'd do whatever it takes to make it up to me. I said it was too late there was nothing she could do to make it up to me, I told her I was in love with you and wanted another shot at our marriage."

"And then you kissed her," Charlie muttered.

"No," he replied "I helped her get boxes she already had packed out to her car before we moved onto the bedroom. She closed the door over to get stuff from the closet behind it, the whole time she tried to talk to me I just ignored her and continued to throw her stuff into the box. She walked over to me and pulled my hands away and asked me to look her in the eye and tell her I didn't love her anymore."

"And did you?" Charlie asked.

Brax glanced at her "I looked her in the eye and told her I loved you and no one else. She laughed and said that wasn't me telling her I didn't love her anymore, I told her to get the rest of her stuff because I wanted to come see you. She pulled me back and asked me to kiss her and see if the feelings were still there if not she'd leave us be…I kissed her quickly and said they weren't. She pulled me back and said she wanted me to kiss her like I used to so I did, and before I had a chance to pull away and tell her I felt nothing I heard you at the door." He looked over at her "Charlie, I needed to prove to her and myself that it was over there was no going back."

"And I was just second best right?" she muttered and stood up.

"I didn't say that," he said and stood up

"You don't need to!" she yelled "if she hadn't ran off after you got hit by that car you two would be back together!" she yelled as she stomped up the stairs "she's gone now and all you have is me!"

"When I missed your call I'd I just found her! I walked away from her to call you back! So no Charlie, you're not all I have! You're all I want!" he called after her sighing when be bedroom door slammed.

* * *

A while later Brax stopped outside her bedroom door and sighed heavily, listening for any movement he pushed the door in and stuck his head in. Seeing her lying on the bed looking back at him he walked into the room "you know what I was thinking when I was kissing her?" he asked lying down beside her. "I was thinking I feel nothing, it's all just gone, this is gonna be over soon and I can come see you," he said and reached out to stroke her cheek "you know what I feel when I kiss you?"

Charlie sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling "you're stomach is doing flips, you feel like you're gonna explode, it's so intense you just want more and more-you never want it to stop," she said and looked over at him. "You have this fire in your heart that gets hotter and hotter the closer you get, and you feel if you pull away it's gonna shatter into a million pieces."

Brax smiled and moved closer to her "exactly, Charlie you're the love of my life no one can ever come close to you and they never will. I knew the day I met you when I joined that school that you were gonna be a big problem for me, even after the way I treated you the first few weeks you never gave up on me. I was trying to be this tough bad boy and you saw right through it, it's because of you I came to school everyday," he chuckled. "I just wanted to see you, even if I was pissing you off and driving you crazy, that smirk that you told me you'd wipe off my face a million times wasn't a smirk at all," he said and pulled her closer to him "that was my way of hiding the smile I wanted to break out every time I saw you."

Charlie giggled "it still took you six months to ask me out."

Brax chuckled "I was working up the courage to ask you out without getting hassle from the boys about a summer bay hottie."

Charlie giggled again "you know I knew you like me from the second week?" She chuckled again as his eyes widened slightly. "Heath told me, he said you were being a girl and would only talk about me to him at home where no one would hear you, he was sick of it and would I just ask you out to end the misery."

"That was the night you saw me on the beach?" he asked.

Charlie nodded "the first time you acted normal around me, not the tool I was used to."

"Hey, you kissed that tool after he walked you home," Brax said nudging her.

"You kissed me first, I was about to slap you until you stuck your tongue in my mouth," she giggled.

Brax laughed and leaned over her "best move I ever made, I got my summer bay hottie and she turned out to be my amazing incredibly sexy wife that gave me two awesome kids," he said and lowered his head "I love you Charlie without you my life doesn't make sense," he said and kissed her deeply.

Charlie pulled back and lay her head on his chest "what now?"

"Well since we both have busted legs," he said wrapping his arm around her "I think a few days of bed rest should do it."

"Couldn't agree more," she said and snuggled into him.

…

Over at Brax's house the girls sat on the sofa having lunch with Casey and Kyle "what happens to dads room when he moves out?" Ruby asked.

Casey and Kyle looked at one another "why would he move out?" Kyle asked.

Cassie scoffed "you two are not idiots, you know mum and dad are back together."

"No we didn't know that," Kyle said "we did know he still loved her and was an idiot for going to London at all."

"I saw his face when he saw her in London he was happy she was there and not Ricky," Casey said and stood up "alls well ends well," he said and walked to the kitchen "you girls won't have to share a room when you stay then-you decide who gets Brax's room."

Cassie and Ruby looked at one another "uh Case," Ruby said "there won't be a reason for us to stay here if dad moves home."

Kyle scoffed "yes you will because we're the best uncles ever and you two can't bare to be away from us…you'll still be here," he said and walked into the kitchen.

Cassie nodded "we will be…we're staying here for a few days so mum and dad can get reacquainted in peace!"

"Ew Cass," Ruby giggled "that is gross, how can you think about mum and dad doing it."

"I wasn't," Cassie laughed "I meant so they could talk and get it all out in the open gutter brain."

Ruby chuckled "right…what happens if Ricky turns up again?"

"I'll beat the crap out of her if I see her again," Cassie said bitterly "she better stay away from dad and let them get on with it."

"No more fighting you," Casey said as he walked back into the room "Brax has made his choice she won't come between them."

"She did yesterday," Ruby said "and she stood there with this stupid smug grin on her face."

"Everything is fine now mum and dad are back on track…don't worry about it, Ricky's got the message," Kyle said.

"Everything is not fine," Cassie sighed "they were arguing about dad kissing her and mum didn't say a word on the way home…they're probably killing each other now," she muttered.

"Cass, last night your mum was in hospital with a head injury she wasn't fit to talk about it, I'm sure they're talking it through right now," Casey said and stood up "come on, we're going the movies."

"You paying Case?" Ruby chuckled.

"Don't I always," he said and opened the door.

"That's why you're the best," Cassie chuckled as she walked by him.

* * *

Down at the station Jack sat in Charlie's office doing up his paperwork, hearing a noise outside he glanced up waiting for someone to appear. When no one did he shook his head and looked down again all this stuff about his mum and dad had him on edge. Sighing he picked up the phone and called Peter "Pete, I've looked through every database we have that guys face is not coming up anywhere," he groaned. Hayley had been in with Peter and got a sketch of the guy she'd seen under Charlie's car and Peter had asked him to run it while he went to check out her car again.

"Alright," Peter sighed "pack it up and head home we'll try again tomorrow…Jack?" he asked when he didn't answer him.

"Sorry, I keep hearing noises and no one's there when I look up," he said and stood up "I'm wrecked my mind is playing tricks on me," he said as he walked to the door.

"Ye big baby," Peter chuckled "afraid of being alone in the station?"

"That's exactly it Pete," he said sarcastically "I'm just waiting on someone to…" he trailed off as a guy leaned against the desk with a gun aimed at him "oh shit," he said.

"What?" Peter chuckled "a clown jump out of the…Jack!" he yelled when shots went off "Jack!" he yelled again. Running to his car he jumped in and screeched away with the phone to his ear "Jack you answer me damn it!" he yelled panicked.

Flinging down his phone he grabbed his radio "Watson! What's your twenty!" he yelled.

"Diner strip Pete, what's up?" she asked.

"Get back to the station Jack needs back up!"

"What happened?" she asked and turned on the sirens.

"I don't know, he was on the phone to me and I just heard shots!" Peter yelled as he sped up "he's not answering me just get there!" he yelled and threw down the radio. Picking up his phone again that was still in call putting it to his ear he closed his eyes at the gun shots that were still going…there was no way his brother survived this. Wiping his eyes as they glistened he put the phone on speaker "Jacky, if you can hear me on my way, you just hang in there bro."

A few minutes later he screeched to a stop outside the station and jumped out, running inside with his gun drawn he ran to the office. Stopping at the shattered glass and bullet ridden door his heart dropped into his stomach he felt like he needed to throw up, he knew Jack wouldn't have had his gun on him he always locked it away if he was staying at the station for paperwork. Blowing out a deep breath he took slow steps into the office, looking towards the desk he closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

….

"Alright mate?" Jack asked as Watson dabbed his head "you look a little pale there."

"I thought my brother was dead," he said and walked to sit beside him "what happened?"

"I walked to the door on the phone to you, some guy was leaning against the desk before I had a chance to react he just started shooting at me," Jack said. "I jumped back in and closed the door, hit the floor when the bullets started coming through the glass. I made it under the desk and looked for Charlie's back up gun, by the time I got that Watson was running in the door and he was gone."

Peter nodded and titled his head to look at the wound "what happened to your head?"

"I banged it off the desk when I hit the floor, it was the guy Hayls saw…you still think dad is full of crap?" he asked.

Outside Cassie and the others were driving by the station on the way to the movies "stop!" Ruby said and leaned forward.

Kyle jammed on and looked back at her "what?" he asked.

"Look at the way the cars are parked," she replied.

"Yeah," Cassie frowned "isn't that Pete's car up on the path with the door open?" she asked.

"It is…something's wrong," Ruby said and pulled her belt off.

"Ruby!" Casey yelled as she jumped out "get back here! You don't know what's happening in there!"

"I have to! She called back as she ran towards the station "Jack's car is here too!"

"Damn it!" Casey yelled and jumped out "don't call your mum!" he called as Cassie pulled out her phone.

"Drama ever ends with us," Cassie sighed as she and Kyle ran after them.

Ruby ran into the station and gasped at all the holes in the wall and the shattered glass "I told you something was wrong," she whimpered as the others stopped behind her "Pete! Jack!" she cried and ran to the office.

Peter stood up quickly "what the hell are you lot doing here."

"What happened?" Cassie asked trying to look behind him.

"Is Jack okay?" Ruby yelled when she saw stuff with blood on it on the floor behind him.

"I'm fine kiddo, calm down," he said walking beside Peter.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"Would you buy my gun went off a few times by itself?" Jack chuckled.

"No…truth," she said crossing her arms.

Peter sighed "a guy came in with a gun and Jack was here alone, he's okay no one was hurt, it's over now."

"Why did he just randomly start shooting?" Casey asked.

"Don't know mate…he was gone before I could get my gun," Jack said and sat on the desk again.

"Maybe he has mental problems," Kyle said.

"Sounds like it," Peter sighed "can you boys bring them home, we've a lot to do here…and don't call your mum she doesn't need to come down," he added.

* * *

Over at her house Charlie and Brax had moved to the sofa "do you want me to come to the hospital with you tomorrow?" Charlie asked.

"Nah, I'll get Kyle to drive me, I can't wait to get this thing off," he said nodding to his foot.

Charlie chuckled "I think this is the longest I've ever seen you sit still."

Brax leaned over and kissed her "that's because I'm here with you," he said and kissed her again.

"You staying tonight?" she asked.

Brax nodded and pulled her closer to him "yep, get to wake up beside you," he smiled.

Charlie giggled and titled her head "you're going all soft."

Brax chuckled "it's all your fault you know, you just bring out my good side."

Charlie leaned up and kissed him quickly "I like this side," she said and looked towards the door as it opened.

Before she could say hello Ruby and Cassie were heard arguing "no!" Ruby shrieked "we have to tell her!"

"Keep your voice down!" Cassie hissed "you'll wake mum and dad, you heard Pete there's nothing she can do!"

"Yeah but we should still tell her!" Ruby shrieked "he's her brother he could have been killed!"

"Yeah could have!" Cassie yelled back "he's okay nothing happened to him! Drop it and forget about it Rubes!"

Charlie and Brax looked at one another and frowned Charlie stood up and made her way to the kitchen "well since I heard all that you may as well tell me the full story," she said startling the girls.

"Hey mum," Cassie said shooting a glare at Ruby "we thought you'd be in bed."

"Well you thought wrong," Brax said stopping beside Charlie what's going on?" he asked.

"There's nothing to tell, Ruby is just being dramatic as usual!" Cassie yelled.

"Jack was attacked at the station by some nut with a gun," Ruby said quickly.

Charlie's eyes went wide "is he okay? Is he at the hospital?" she asked and grabbed her keys.

"I told you not to say anything!" Cassie yelled and snatched the keys from Charlie "you're not going anywhere Jack is fine, he wasn't attacked and he wasn't hit. It was just some guy with mental problems that came in and started shooting at nothing!"

Brax chuckled Ruby had always been dramatic and exaggerating things, Cassie was the one that remained calmed and gave as little information as possible "so Jack is okay?" he asked.

Cassie nodded "he was in mums office when the shots went off, he cut his head diving to the floor that's all," she said and looked at Ruby "you need to calm down and stop freaking people out!"

"It could have been worse!" Ruby hissed "he could have been at one of the desks out front when that guy came in!"

Charlie shook her head what her dad had said to her was playing on her mind "you girls better get to bed…I'm gonna call Jack and find out for myself," she said and made her way up to her bedroom.

…

Sitting on her bed she dialled Jack's number "hey," she said when he answered.

"Who blabbed?" he sighed "it was Ruby wasn't it?"

"Yes," she chuckled "she seems to have exaggerated a bit…so you're okay?"

"Like she always does and yes I'm fine, I just have a cut on my head," he replied.

"It wasn't just some guy with mental problems?" she asked a minute later.

"No," he sighed "I didn't want to freak them out I assumed they didn't know what dad told you."

"No they don't," Charlie said " he was there for you?"

"Yeah…same guy that was under your car," he replied.

Charlie sighed heavily "does Pete believe me now?"

"I think so, he's watching back on the footage."

"What happens now?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know Charlz, this guy is good, he was gone before Watson even got into the station, it was like he just disappeared."

Charlie shook her head "go home and get some rest, tomorrow we're all on this and we are going to end it."

Jack chuckled "that'll be a bit hard when you can't walk or run."

"I can hop, I'll be down first thing, we need to find out who this guy is, that's me and you now Jack Pete's gonna be next," she sighed.

"I know," he said and paused for a moment "Charlz I gotta go give my statement."

"Okay, I'll talk to you in the morning…I'm glad you're okay."

"Tough as nails me," he chuckled "go on, I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said and hung up.

Charlie sighed and dropped the phone beside her, she looked up when the opened and smiled weakly as Brax walked in "he's okay," she said as he sat beside her.

"That's good, is it about what your dad said?" he asked.

Charlie nodded "he said it was the same guy that Hayls saw at my car."

"That's two of you now, he was telling the truth…what are you gonna do next?"

"I don't know," Charlie sighed "something's not right here Brax, we never could trust my dad," she said and looked over at him "what if it's him doing all this and trying to pin it on my mum?"

"Can't you get them in for questioning?" he asked "get them both there and pull their phone records or something?"

"We have to play this carefully," she replied "if we get them in and question them whichever one it is will know we're onto them and cover their tracks or disappear…their good at that," she muttered.

Brax wrapped his arm around her "I don't know what else to say babe, but you gotta come up with something, what if something happens to you again-or the girls?"

Charlie sighed heavily "I can still pull their phone records, it's a start anyway…I can set up for them both to be followed for a few days. I'll just have to talk to Pete first no doubt he's already gone psycho trying to figure this out," she said and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Brax asked.

"To talk to Pete," she replied.

"Charlie you can't drive and you can't walk all that way," he said following her.

"I have to do something Brax, I'm not gonna sit back and let anything else happen, you're right, what if something happens to the girls…I can't let that happen," she replied.

Brax sighed and tugged her back "I know you wanna do something and I know how much you wanna be out there but babe you can't, you're no good to anyone at the moment. Why don't you call Pete and ask him to come talk to you here?" he suggested.

"Alright," she nodded and walked back to the room for her phone.

* * *

The next morning Brax rolled over and sat up when Charlie's side was empty, looking to the bathroom to see the door open he rolled out of the bed. Pulling clothes on he made is way into the kitchen "morning baby," he said and dropped a kiss on Ruby's forehead as he walked by her.

"Morning dad," she mumbled through a mouthful of cereal.

"Where's your mum and sister?" he asked sitting beside her.

"Cass is doing a shift for Kyle today and mum wanted to go to the station so she dropped her off on the way…wanna do something with your favourite daughter?" she giggled.

Brax chuckled and sipped his coffee "I have an appointment at the hospital soon, we can do something after that."

"So I am your favourite?" she smirked.

Brax chuckled again and dropped another kiss on her forehead "no Cassie is," he smirked.

"Dad," she whined "you so love me more than Cass I know that."

Brax chuckled again I love you both the same," he said and stood up "I better call Cass to bring the books home with her so I don't have to go down," he said and walked to his phone.

"I'm heading out," Ruby said dumping her bowl in the sink "love ya dad," she said and kissed him on the cheek.

"Love ya too baby, have you got your phone?" he asked as he held his phone to his ear.

"Got it…bye!" she called on her way out.

"Bye…Ben, put Cass on will ya?" he asked.

"Uh, Cassie's not here Brax, she never arrived," Ben replied.

Brax frowned "Ruby said she was covering for Kyle."

"She was, she never turned up."

"And you're sure?" Brax asked.

"Yes," Ben replied "I've called her three times."

Brax sighed "Ruby said she left hours ago, call me if she turns up," he said and hung up. Something was wrong, he just knew it.

Grabbing his keys he dialled Cassie as he hobbled to his car "baby I'm getting worried call me back as soon as you get this," he said and pulled away for the station.

…

Charlie looked up and smiled as he hobbled into her office "I'd say good morning but you look all grumpy," she chuckled.

Brax sat on her desk "Cassie never arrived at Angelo's this morning and I can't get through to her."

Charlie frowned "she dropped me off she should have been there five minutes later."

"Well she's not, think Charlie, did she say she was going anywhere before work? Anything she had to? Anything?" he asked.

"No, she said she was going straight to work that I should meet her there for lunch later," Charlie said and turned on her computer.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she typed away.

"My car has a tracking signal in case I ever went miss…." she trailed off.

"What," Brax asked leaning over her.

Charlie looked over at him "it's at Angelo's," she said and stood up "something's not right here Brax, how can my car be there and she's not there."

"We have to get down there maybe she was in the stock room or something," Brax said.

"For the last three hours, I don't think so," Charlie said and grabbed her keys "we'll take the cruiser," she added and walked by him.

Arriving at Angelo's they climbed out and walked to the car, Charlie walked around it and stopped back at Brax "everything looks okay, no keys and it's locked up."

"Then where the hell is she," Brax sighed.

Charlie pulled out her phone and called her again "Cass it's mum, I don't care if you bunked off work or whatever just call me back and let me know you're okay," looking beyond Brax she spotted a camera in the lot "Brax please tell me that camera works."

Brax looked behind him "it does, John Palmer has the tapes," he said and hobbled off. Walking inside he spotted John at the counter "John, have you seen Cassie this morning?"

"Nah mate, just the usual staff heading up to open… something wrong?" he asked.

"Cassie never arrived for her shift this morning but my car is here…can we look at the tapes?" Charlie asked.

"Of course," John said quickly "anything I can do to help," he said handing over the keys to the camera room "I wouldn't worry yet mate she's a teenager I bet she's off with some boy or something."

"Yeah at this stage I hope so," Brax sighed "thanks," he said and followed Charlie.

A few minutes later Charlie stood up as Cassie came onto the screen "there she is," she said loudly. "Brax," she whimpered as two men came up behind her in masks and grabbed her.

* * *

Brax stared at the screen, his eyes filled with tears as he watched his little girl fight with all she had before she was bundled into the back of the van "Cassie," he sighed and looked over at sobbing Charlie "we'll find her babe," he said wrapping his arm around her.

Charlie pulled away from him and shot up "and when we do whoever has her is dead," she hissed and pulled her radio to her mouth "this is Sergeant Holden, I'm putting out an amber alert, all units please respond."

She waited as all her cruisers and dispatch gave her the go ahead "victims names is Cassie Braxton," she said shakily "last seen in Angelo's parking lot being pulled into a van by two unknown suspects approximately four hours ago."

She looked down at her phone as Jack appeared on screen then over to Brax's as Peter appeared on his "Cassie is nineteen, five-six, long wavy brown hair, has both ears pierced at the top, she has a tattoo on the base of her neck of a tiger, she was wearing white denim shorts a blue shirt and white pumps, she also has a black Juicy handbag with her. Registration for the van is 99W5VZO all units be on alert."

Letting her radio fall out of her hand she burst out crying. Brax pulled her into him and held her close "I've called Heath and the others they're already out looking."

Charlie nodded against him "where's Ruby?" she whimpered.

"She's at B's with April," he said picking up his phone "but I'll call to double check," he said and walked out of the room angrier than he'd ever been before.

"Did you find her?" John asked.

"Yeah, she was pulled into the back of a van in the lot," he replied and kept walking.

"What!" John yelled and ran after him "Brax mate, I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do?"

"We're gonna need the last few weeks of tapes," Charlie said joining them "this was planned they could have been here before checking out the place."

"Of course of course, anything I can do to help, I'll start asking around, don't worry," he said and hugged Charlie quickly "we'll find her," he added before hurrying off.

Brax looked down on Charlie wiping her tears he pulled her to him and kissed her "I love you, everything is gonna be okay, we're gonna get her back today babe I promise."

"Ruby?" she sniffed.

"She's at Bianca's," he replied "I called her and filled her in ,she's rounding up the others and she'll meet us here. I told her not to tell Ruby but to tell them they've to stay in the house and not to leave or answer the door to anyone until me or you pick her up."

Charlie nodded and turned around as she was called to see her panicked brothers running towards her "is this a mistake?" Peter asked "someone got it wrong right? It's not Cass?"

Charlie looked down at the floor "it is Cassie, I watched with my own eyes as she was pulled into that van…we need the area searched and my car dusted, one of them fell on it when she fought back," she whimpered.

"Charlz," Jack sighed and pulled her into a hug "we'll get right on it, everyone will be out looking for."

Charlie nodded and pulled away from them "I need a minute," she said and walked back to the camera room. Sitting down she rewound the tape and watched again as her defenceless daughter was taken for no reason at all.

**A/N hope you enjoyed this update and again so so sorry about the delay**.


	7. Chapter 7

**So sorry for the long delay, literally haven't turned the laptop on in about a month haven't had a minute to myself...enjoy.**

On the outskirts of town in an abandoned warehouse a terrified Cassie was dragged into a room after being dragged out of the van. "What do you want?" she yelled "I don't have any money! I'm no one important! What's this all about?"

"Oh you're important to someone," a female voice chuckled behind her.

Cassie gasped and whipped round "Nan!" she screeched when she spotted her sitting in the corner.

"That's right sweetheart," she smiled and stood up "miss me?" she chuckled.

Cassie was beyond shocked, she'd heard Peter and Jack talking about her and some plot to kill them the other night but never thought anything of it-she'd known since she was a kid they didn't get along with either parent. "Nan, why are you doing this?" she asked trying to remain calm.

Sonya chuckled "I needed a little persuading but I eventually agreed to help out once I learned what the ending would be."

"Help out?" Cassie frowned "help out with what?"

"Me getting rid of your mum so I can have your dad back," another female voice joined in.

Cassie's eyes darkened, turning slowly they landed on Ricky leaning against the van. Knowing she needed to be strong here she laughed "you're kidding right? nothing can come between them, not even this."

"I know," Ricky said and started to walk towards her "and trust me I thought of every option available and came to one solution."

Cassie scoffed "throw yourself off a bridge maybe?"

Ricky chuckled and stopped in front of her "your stupid nosey sister should be on her way any minute now, give it another few hours and this all leads back to Charlie."

"Mum?" Cassie frowned "how in hell are you gonna pull that one off?"

"Well you see Cassandra," she said moving to her ear "I plan on spotting two girls being bundled in here at gunpoint, me being worried they were in danger followed them inside. When I arrive their doting mum is here she'd gone crazy-couldn't cope anymore, before I could stop her she shot her precious daughters before turning the gun on herself and little oul me is left to comfort their devastated dad."

Cassie gasped and took a step back "you're crazy you know that! It will never work!" she yelled and turned to Sonya "and where do you fit into this crazy story?"

"Oh darling," she smirked "I'm the one Ricky calls while I'm comforting your mum, I'll lead her right here" she said and grabbed her bag "I better go be the worried grandparent," she added and walked out the door.

Cassie turned back to Ricky to see her smiling, launching her fist into her face she did it repeatedly until one of the guys pulled her away "you stay away from my mum you crazy bitch! I swear Ricky I will kill you!" she screamed as she was pulled out of the room, she'd never been so scared in all her life.

….

Charlie looked out her office window at yet another empty cruiser pulling back into the lot, Brax walked up behind her and slid his arms around her "babe you need to get some sleep," he said and kissed her shoulder "you've been up over fifteen hours now."

"Eighteen," Charlie replied without looking away from the window "I won't sleep until I have my daughter back."

Brax sighed and tightened his grip on her "do you think Cassie would want you running yourself into the ground?" he asked.

"Do you think she wanted any of this to happen!" Charlie snapped and pulled away from him "I'll sleep when she's safe and beside me! You may not care but I do!" sighing she turned to face him "I'm sorry, I'm just all over the place, I didn't mean that."

"I know you didn't," he replied and pulled her to him "babe you need some sleep, I promise I'll wake you up the second I hear anything."

Charlie sighed again and pulled away from him "I'm going to Bianca's to check on Ruby…I'll grab an hour with her," she said and walked to the door "you better call me if you hear anything Brax," she said seriously.

Walking to her he kissed her softly "I will…I love ya," he said and stroked her cheek "get some sleep, we're gonna find her."

Charlie nodded and pulled the door open "love ya too…see ya in a while," she said and walked out to her cruiser.

Arriving at Bianca's she pulled up and walked to the door, knocking she took a step back "girls it's Charlie!" she called in.

When no one answered she knocked louder freezing when the door moved under her hand, pulling her gun from her waist she tipped the door in "Rubes? April?" she called and took a step in.

Seeing things scattered on the floor she knew something was wrong "RUBY! APRIL!" she yelled and ran in "GIRLS ANSWER ME!"

"Charlie!" April cried back and banged on the closet door "CHARLIE!" she screamed again and banged harder.

Charlie ran to it and saw she'd been locked in, pulling the chair away she opened the door and caught a sobbing April as she fell into her arms "I'm sorry!" She sobbed "there was nothing I could do they shoved me in here and locked the door!"

Charlie wrapped her up in a hug "it's okay," she whimpered knowing Ruby was gone too "it's okay," she said again and rubbed her back.

April pulled back and looked up at her "I tried to help, I really I did."

Charlie wiped the blood from under her nose "it's okay April," she said and wrapped her arm around her "let's get you out of here," she said and led her to the door. Pulling her radio to her mouth she sighed heavily "all units please be aware this is now a double amber alert, second Victim is Ruby Braxton, seventeen, brown curly hair, dark skin, missing approximately an hour," she said and walked to her car.

Sitting April in she closed the door and leaned on the roof before she burst out crying…what did she do now?

* * *

Over at the warehouse Cassie jumped up as she heard Ruby screaming, once the door opened she ran at it "Ruby!" she yelled as she was thrown into the room.

"Cassie!" she sobbed and ran to her "we've been so worried," she said and hugged her "mum and dad are going out of their minds they have everyone looking for you."

Cassie held her close as she cried "we'll be okay, we'll get out of this…how did you end up here?" she asked.

"Dad said he'd ordered us pizza and it was Ben delivering it, he called out so we opened the door. Two guys jumped him and forced their way in, they got April and locked her in the closet before dragging me out to a van," Ruby replied and pulled back "did they hurt you?" she asked looking her over.

"No, but wait till you hear the story," she replied and dragged Ruby to the small sofa. "Remember I told you I heard Uncle Pete and Jack talking about Nan?"

Ruby nodded "yeah about Nan's crazy plot to kill them…is it her?" she asked wide eyed.

Cassie nodded "her and Ricky…it's all to get dad back, she's gonna pretend she found us and call Nan whose conveniently with mum and get her here. When she does she's gonna shoot us and kill mum making it look like she snapped and killed us before killing herself."

Ruby gasped "I knew she was up to something, I saw them talking on the beach last week, since when is Nan nice to Ricky?"

"Since we both want your mum gone," Ricky said casually.

Ruby jumped up "you can't keep us here!" she yelled charging at her "mum and dad will find us! You'll never get between them! Never!" she yelled ready to punch her.

"Ah, ah," Ricky said pulling a gun from her waist "learned the hard way from your temper tantrum sister over there."

Cassie stepped protectively in front of Ruby "get that gun out of her face, trust me even that won't stop me!" she growled.

Ricky laughed "I see a lot of your dad in you, shame, we could have been friends."

"As if," she scoffed "I'm not afraid of you or anything you throw at me!" Cassie yelled back "when this is all over I will get you! And don't you forget it!" she added pushing Ruby to the other side of the room.

Ricky walked to her and raised the gun again "afraid now?" she asked aiming at her stomach.

"Cass," Ruby squealed.

Cassie stared right back at her keeping her face neutral, Ricky moved the gun to her face "now?" she asked taking a step closer. She laughed when Cassie didn't even blink when she pulled the trigger "not loaded but I gotta give it to ya, you got guts kid…don't threaten me little girl, next time it'll be fully loaded-later," she called as she walked out of the room.

…..

Over at the station Charlie paced her office as April gave her statement to Jack, she groaned as her mum hurried in the door "I don't have time for you so whatever it is come back never," she said and started to pace again.

"Charlie my granddaughters have been kidnapped I just saw it on the news, why didn't you call me?" she asked.

Bianca scoffed "why would she call you?" she laughed.

Sonya sighed "they're still my family despite what my daughter has against me…is there anything I can do to help."

"Leave," Charlie said as she paced "I've enough to deal with without you in my ear."

Sonya walked to her and stopped her "when was the last time you slept love, you look exhausted."

"Tends to happen when both your daughters are kidnapped," she snapped and pulled away from her.

Sonya sighed this wasn't working, she needed her alone grabbing her by the hand she started to pull her out the door "I'm taking you to a room with a sofa you have to sleep Charlie you're no good to anyone this way."

"Mum, I have to find my daughters, I have to go out again will you let go of me!" she yelled.

"Charlie I know you want to know and do everything but you can't, sweetie you're gonna make yourself sick. You know your brothers can handle it and they will come to you if the find anything, sleep," she said pushing her down onto a sofa.

Charlie sighed heavily and lay back, it's what her brain begged her to do, yawing she pulled her feet up under her "a few minutes won't hurt," she mumbled.

Sonya smirked and sat on the arm of the sofa "I'm here sweetie," she said and started to rub her head.

Once she was sure she was a sleep she stood up and walked to the door, watching everyone hurry about outside she pulled out her phone and pressed two. Putting the phone to her ear she smirked again "it's time," she said quietly and hung up, turning the phone off she pulled out the sim card and dumped it in the bin…no one would suspect a thing.

Outside Watson frowned and pulled off her head phones, looking over to the room Charlie and her mum had gone she watched Sonya pace and glance at her bag "hey Jack," she said still watching her "have a listen to this," she said and gave him her headset.

Jack took it and put them on "what?" he asked.

"Wait a sec," she replied and went back to what she'd just heard "your mum is there with Charlie, she must have sat on her radio I can hear them."

"Knowing mum she's probably filling Charlie's head…" he trailed off and looked down at Watson "time for what?" he asked.

"She's getting a call," she replied and grabbed the headphones back. They listened as Sonya answered and a panicked voice came over the line "that sounds like Ricky," Watson said.

Jack watched Sonya shake Charlie hard, she rambled on about the call and Charlie jumped up, flinging the door open she ran by them, Sonya on her tail. "Something's not right here," Jack said as they took off "I'm gonna follow…Charlie!" he yelled and took off after them.

"Pete and others will be behind you," Watson called after him.

* * *

Screeching to a stop outside the warehouse Charlie jumped out "what exactly did Ricky say?" she asked as she checked to make sure her gun was loaded.

Sonya hurried to keep up with her "she was out walking her dog and a van flew by her, she heard girls crying and looked over to see two girls being pushed inside. She thought it was Cassie and Ruby so she came to a window to look, when she confirmed it was them she called Brax then me when he didn't answer, she told me she was going to stay inside until you got here."

Charlie nodded and stopped "you wait here, if I'm not back in five minutes call Jack," she said and started to walk again.

"Charlie you can't go inside alone, Ricky said they had guns," Sonya said following her.

Charlie stopped again "so have I and I'm trained for this…go wait in the car and stay there," she said and hurried inside the door before Sonya could say anything else.

Sonya walked back to the car and pulled out another phone, calling Ricky she sat back against the car "she's inside and she's armed," she said and hung up.

Inside Charlie slowly made her way along a dark hallway checking rooms as she went, she froze when she heard footsteps up ahead. Listening again for a minute she continued on, getting to a corner she leaned against the wall and slowly stuck her head around. Seeing it was clear she walked on, coming to a room she stuck her head in and spotted someone dive behind a load of boxes "on your feet now and come out!" she said taking the safety off her gun.

"Charlie?" Ricky whimpered and stuck her head out "it's me, don't shoot," she said and stood up slowly.

Charlie sighed and lowered her gun "Ricky what are you doing in here?" she asked helping her out from behind the boxes.

"I followed them to where they had the girls, I thought one of them saw me so I ran then I saw you and hid in here…I thought you were one of them," she replied.

Charlie nodded "right, tell me what room they're in then get out of here, my mum is outside in my cruiser wait with her and lock the door."

"I better come too, I can't remember I took that many turns," Ricky replied.

Charlie rolled her eyes "fine, but stay behind me," she said and walked out of the room.

…

Back at the station Brax walked to the door as Watson started yelling at someone on the phone "you gotta be kidding me!" she yelled "Jack! you absolute moron! I told you to fill it this morning!" she sighed and grabbed a pen "where bouts and I'll send someone for you….Pete's on his way to Charlie," she added and hung up "idiot," she muttered and jumped up.

"What's going on? Is it Charlie?" he asked worried, he never felt so helpless in all his life.

"No, Jack ran out of gas, I told him to fill the tank this morning….don't worry Pete wasn't far behind him he'll go ahead to the warehouse," she replied.

Brax nodded "any word on Charlie?" he asked following her.

"No," she replied again "she's not answering her phone or radio or car radio…don't worry Brax she's not alone," she said and squeezed his shoulder "they'll all come back safe, if there's one thing I know about Charlie it's she never gives up-she'll be fine," she added and walked out back.

"Watson!" an officer yelled running in the door "we got a witness that saw the van owner being assaulted and the van stolen…she gave us two id's."

"Who?" Watson and Brax asked hurrying to him.

"Kevin Montgomery and Eli Samson…they've both got records," he said handing over papers.

Brax frowned "I've heard the name Samson before, have you a clear picture of him? That video was all fuzzy."

Watson flicked through a file and pulled out two pictures "Samson and have a look at Montgomery, if you think you know one you might recognise the other," she said handing them to him.

Brax took them from her and looked down at them "I know I've seen him before," he said turning the picture of Montgomery around. Looking down at Samson he did a double take he knew he knew the name and now he knew why "this," he said through gritted teeth "is Ricky and Adam's half brother."

Watson walked to the phone "Charlie's walking into a trap, Ricky has to be involved in this," she said as she banged in Peter's number.

Brax stormed into Charlie's office and grabbed his keys, he didn't care that he'd just had his cast taken off or that he still couldn't drive, he was going to that warehouse and if she was involved he was going to kill Ricky himself.

"Pete!" Watson yelled "Charlie's walking into a trap please tell me you're nearly there!"

"I'm pulling up now, what do you mean a trap?" Peter asked as he jumped out.

"Brax recognized the van driver, he id'd him as Ricky's half brother and he knows the other guy too," she replied.

"So she's involved and just happened to stumble…" he trailed off as he heard noises "gunshots inside I gotta go!" he yelled and hung up before barging inside.

Watson went to grab her belt "what the? Where's my gun?" she yelled looking at her empty holder "Brax," she sighed when she saw his car speed out of the lot.

* * *

**A few minutes before-inside the warehouse.**

"This way," Ricky said and pointed "that door over there," she whispered pointing to the corner.

Charlie nodded and slowly approached the door, looking in she saw her daughters sitting in the corner with two guys at a nearby table, relief washed over her as she saw they were okay "they're in here, go outside."

"I can't leave you on your own," Ricky whispered loudly "they have guns."

Charlie turned back to her "and you don't what use will you be other than a shield?" she snapped "go wait outside and let me do my job!"

Ricky bit her lip in frustration, all she had left to do was get her in that door "Look, I don't want to leave you so how about this, get the girls out here to me and I'll bring them outside?"

Charlie thought for a moment then nodded "stay here out of the way until they run out, then get the hell out of here Ricky," she said seriously.

Ricky nodded and secretly sent a text to her brother inside "I'll stay over here," she said and walked to the corner.

Charlie watched her until she stopped, turning to the door she closed her eyes and blew out a deep breath, kicking in the door she moved quickly "police don't m…" she trailed off as Cassie jumped up and pulled Ruby behind her…no sign of the two men that were there a few seconds ago.

"Mum!" Ruby screeched and ran at her "oh mum!" she sobbed and launched herself into her arms.

Charlie caught her followed by Cassie "where are the guys? Thank god you're both okay," she asked and pulled them closer.

"Mum, you gotta get outta here now," Cassie said pushing her out the door "this is all a set up Ricky…" she trailed off as Ricky stood with the two guys smirking back.

Charlie pushed both girls behind her "it was you?" she asked.

"Guilty," Ricky giggled and walked forward "inside," she demanded aiming a gun at her.

"Mum," Cassie whispered and clutched the back of her shirt "I can take her, just get the gun from her."

"I'm not stupid Cass," she whispered "just get Ruby to a corner and stay down, leave this to me," she added and shoved them away. "Now what?" she asked turning to Ricky "you kill me and Brax comes running back? This is what this is all about isn't it?"

Ricky chuckled and turned back to the guys "go wait out front I'm sure her cop buddies will be here soon," she said and walked into the room. "Smart girl Charlie," she said and stopped in front of her "I thought I'd have more trouble getting you here," she said glancing at Sonya creeping up behind Charlie.

Charlie gripped her gun and aimed it at Ricky "smart…and prepared," she said and pulled another gun from her waist "drop it mum!" she said aiming it at her without taking her eyes off Ricky.

…..

The room was silent for a few minutes, Sonya looked at Ricky as what to do next, Cassie and Ruby held their breaths as they watched Charlie stand in the middle with a gun on both women while Ricky just stood there smiling "this isn't part of the plan Charlie," she said after another minute.

Charlie scoffed "not much of a plan if you brought my mum into it," she said and turned her head to Sonya "she never could do anything right…I heard you make the call I heard Ricky on the other end."

Sonya chuckled "nothing ever did get by you Charlie."

Charlie chuckled too "nothing changes eh mum?" she asked and looked back at Ricky "give me one good reason not to shoot you right now?" she snarled.

"Well for starters," Ricky said and moved her gun quickly "I can reach your daughters from here," she said and let off a shot above their heads "I can let off another while I fall," she added smugly.

Charlie let off a shot without a second glance and stepped closer as Ricky grabbed her shoulder and dropped to the floor "over my dead body!" she hissed.

"Mum!" Cassie yelled as Sonya ran at her.

Charlie turned quickly and froze as Sonya shot off the gun, clutching her stomach she dropped to her knees, raising her hand she let another shot off as Sonya tried to reload her gun "girls get outta here!" she yelled and dropped her gun as Sonya dropped to the floor not far from her.

Standing up Cassie grabbed a sobbing Ruby and ran to the door, she looked back and saw Ricky pull herself up and go for Charlie's gun on the floor. Seeing Ricky's gun by the door she turned back to Ruby "Rubes close your eyes," she said quickly and ran to Ricky's just as she aimed the gun at the back of Charlie's head. Closing her eyes she let off a shot and squealed.

Charlie turned quickly and saw Ricky looking at her wide eyed before the gun fell out of her hand and she dropped to the floor. Looking over at a wide eyed Cassie she hurried to her and took the gun from her "it's okay baby," she said softly as she pried it from her fingers.

"She was gonna shoot you," Cassie sniffed.

Charlie looked down at Ricky and saw her gasping for air, sighing she dropped a kiss on Cassie's head "I know, it's okay…wait outside with your sister," she said and walked to her. Getting down on her knees she pressed her hands down on the wound "just try to stay calm and breathe," she said as she cried out in pain.

Ricky grabbed her arm "I'm…I'm sorry," she sputtered as tears ran down her face "I just wanted him to love me."

Charlie sighed heavily "he did love you you idiot," she said and pressed down harder "just breathe, don't talk."

* * *

"Charlie!" Peter yelled and burst in through the door with his gun drawn "Ruby said you were shot!" he said wide eyed looking at all the blood on the floor.

Charlie sighed again as Ricky dropped her arm and closed her eyes, standing up she lifted her shirt "not mine…vest," she said and collected the guns "mine, Watson's, Ricky's and mum's," she said handing them to him "they're both dead," she added and walked out the door.

Peter looked down at his mothers lifeless body then to Ricky's, shaking his head he went and stood over Sonya "you should have known better than to take Charlie on mum…you too Ricky," he said out loud and followed her outside as the forensic team got to work.

Charlie made her way outside and watched as the two guys were loaded into the back of a cruiser, spotting the girls at an ambulance with Jack and Watson she walked over "where's dad?" she asked.

"In my car," Watson said "when he saw they guys come out we had to restrain him," she chuckled holding out keys.

Charlie chuckled and took them from her "better he didn't come in," she said and looked over at Cassie "Cass? You okay?" she asked rubbing her arm.

Cassie hid her shaking hands "I'm fine…go see dad," she said quickly.

Charlie sighed and sat beside her "you did what you had to sweetie, you won't be in trouble," she said softly.

"I know," she nodded and looked over at her "seriously, go see dad he's going crazy over there."

Charlie stood up and hugged them both "I'm so glad you're okay, you two will never be out of my sights again," she said and stepped back "I'll just get dad then we can get out of here," she said and walked to the car.

Pulling the door open she climbed in beside him and shut the door "Charl-" he started but was cut off as she held up her hand.

Charlie scooted closer to him "you gonna behave if I take these off?" she asked in his ear.

Brax chuckled as he remembered the last time she said that to him "nah," he replied.

"Good," Charlie said and clicked them open, leaning into him, she kissed him hard "just a little preview for what's to come," she said when she pulled back.

"Oi," Brax said and pulled her back to him "I love you," he said and kissed her again.

"Love you too," Charlie said and pulled the door open "we better get the girls checked out," she added and climbed out.

Brax climbed out and walked beside her "what went on in there?" he asked as two body bags wheeled by him.

Charlie glanced at them "no one messes with my family…not even my mum," she said casually and walked to the girls.

Brax stopped in his tracks he did hear right? She did say her mum? "your mum?" he asked and ran after her.

…

The next morning Charlie yawned as she finally opened her front door, "it so good to be home," she groaned and dropped into the first chair she saw. Due to Ruby's diabetes the hospital wanted to keep her in overnight and Charlie and Brax argued over who would stay and who would take Cassie home resulting in the four of them staying at the hospital.

Brax dropped a kiss on her forehead and massaged her shoulders "go to bed babe you didn't sleep at the hospital."

Charlie groaned and tilted her head to the side "can't, have to look after the girls."

"Going to bed mum," Cassie muttered as she led a yawning Ruby through the kitchen.

"See," Brax said and kissed her on the neck "they're going to bed you should too."

Charlie stood up and yawned "I don't think I'll be able to sleep no matter how tired I am."

Brax walked to her and slid his hands onto her hips "well," he said lifting her onto the counter "let me tire you out then," he said stepping between her legs.

Charlie chuckled and wrapped her arms around his neck "as good as that sounds I think I'd offend you by falling asleep before you got started."

Brax chuckled and kissed her quickly "wouldn't be the first time babe."

Charlie scoffed "it was once and Cassie hadn't slept with her teeth in days, you were lucky to get a hello out of me I was that tired."

Brax chuckled again and pushed some hair behind her ear "I was kidding, how about we lie on the bed and see if we fall asleep?" he suggested.

Charlie nodded and moved closer to him "now that I like," she said and kissed him sweetly "but you have to carry me," she giggled.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he said as he lifted her onto his hips.

"Hey Brax," she said a few minutes later as she settled on his chest "about you moving back in here."

"I'll have my stuff packed and over here by tomorrow night," he replied.

Charlie tilted her head "you're serious?"

Brax nodded and ran his fingers up and down her arm "I am, I wanna be here with you and my girls, you're all that matter to me."

Charlie smiled and leaned up to him "welcome home baby," she said and kissed him.

As the kiss heated up Brax slid his hands onto her hips and pulled her closer as she moved to straddle him "how're your ribs?" he asked between kisses.

"Fine, no pain," she said and pulled back "stop worrying," she added and pulled her shirt over her head.

Brax chuckled and pulled her back to him "as beautiful as the day I met you," he said and rolled her under him "I love you so much Charlie," he said stroking her cheek while gazing down on her "you and the girls mean everything to me, I'd do anything for you."

Charlie smiled up at him "I love you too Brax-you have no idea how much," she added and pulled him down to her "it's all done, we've wasted enough time, we're moving on-together" she said and claimed his lips.

**A/N hope you enjoyed that, ****don't know when the next update will be but I will try my best to update soon, again so sorry for the delay JJ **


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning Brax scrubbed his hands over his face as he came down the stairs "hey princess," he said when he spotted Ruby on the sofa wrapped up in a blanket. "Did you get any sleep last night?" he asked dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey dad," she yawned "and no I was tossing and turning so I just came down here."

Brax nodded and sat on the arm of the sofa "wanna talk about it?" he asked.

Ruby smiled quickly "I'm fine dad, it's not me you need to worry about," she said and nodded towards the kitchen "she's been out there since six, told me to leave her alone when I went to check on her."

Brax frowned and stood up, Charlie was still up in bed so that just left Cassie "did she get any sleep last night?" he asked as he walked to the door.

"No," Ruby sighed "she was sitting by the window all night, I tried to tell her it wasn't here fault and she did what she had to do and she just told me she didn't want to talk about it and she was fine… she's not fine, I'm starting to worry dad."

Brax sighed heavily "I'll talk to her," he said and walked out the back door.

Walking outside he found her sitting at the table staring into space "morning baby," he said and sat beside her. "What are you doing out here?"

"Dad," she yawned.

"Why don't you get some sleep Cass," he said rubbing her hand.

Cassie pulled her hand away quickly and stood up "I'm fine," she said hurriedly.

Brax frowned and stood up "do you wanna talk about what happened?" he asked.

"No," she said quickly "I'm fine…I gotta go," she added and took off.

"Cassie!" he yelled and hurried after her "Cassie you are not fine! Come back here!"

"I said I'm fine dad! Why don't you go see how mum is!" she snapped and took off down the laneway.

"Cassie!" he yelled again, once she disappeared out of his sights he sighed and walked back into the house.

"Didn't go well then?" Ruby asked from the doorway.

"No," Brax sighed and walked to the coffee pot "she took off."

Ruby nodded slowly "maybe she needs more time to process what happened."

Brax shook his head "I need her to talk to me, I don't want her bottling it all up and exploding in a few weeks."

"Dad," Ruby said walking to him "you don't know what happened in there, mum doesn't know what happened in there before she arrived. Cass is dealing with her own stuff and when she wants to talk she will…don't push her."

Brax raised an eyebrow "what do you mean we don't know what happened in there? Did one of them blokes do something to her?" he yelled angrily.

Ruby shook her head "no, she would have told me…leave her be dad, she'll talk when she wants to," she said and walked back to the sofa.

….

Upstairs Charlie sat up and yawned, seeing the time she rolled out of the bed and grabbed clothes. Pulling them on she walked out and stopped mid yawn, walking to the top of the stairs she looked down at Brax sitting staring at the wall then to the two cups beside him "one of them for me?" she asked sitting beside him.

Brax glanced at her "hey babe…yeah, but they're cold now, I sat down for a minute and now you're here," he chuckled.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" she asked leaning on his shoulder.

"Cassie," he sighed "she's acting strange, she pulled away from me and took off when I asked her did she want to talk."

"You know your daughter Brax, when she wants to talk she come to you."

"Yeah too much like her mother," he said and looked over at her "do you wanna talk about what happened?"

Charlie smiled and leaned closer to him "you don't gotta worry about me babe, I'm fine," she said and kissed him.

Brax pulled back and looked down on her "of course you're fine, you're all fine about it," he muttered.

"Ruby's up?" Charlie asked.

Brax nodded "neither of them could sleep but she's a lot calmer than Cass."

Charlie nodded and stood up and held out her hand "we'll have breakfast then I'll go track down Cass and see if I can get anything out of her."

Brax took her hand and pulled himself up "after breakfast I was thinking I'd head home and start packing up my things," he said as they walked into the living room.

Charlie turned to face him "with everything going on Brax I understand if you wanna leave it a few days."

Brax shook his head and slid his hands onto her hips "not a chance," he said and kissed her quickly "I'm gonna be here anyway so the stuff can wait."

Charlie chuckled and kissed him before pulling away from him "lets see how long you last without your board!" she called back

Brax chuckled and followed her "Case is dropping it over in a bit."

Ruby walked in after them "dad, I can help you pack up if you want," she offered "I've nothing on today."

"Thanks sweetie but I think we'll leave until tomorrow, or at least until the statements are out of the way," he said.

Ruby nodded "do we have to go down today?" she asked "I already told Georgie what I could."

Charlie nodded "you have to go down and officially give your statement and sign it…I'll be with you," she added as Ruby shifted uncomfortably.

Ruby nodded again and grabbed her purse off the counter "I fancy some pancakes," she said and walked out the door.

"Let her go, she'll be fine," Charlie said pulling Brax back as he went to follow her.

Brax sat back down "I wanted pancakes too," he muttered.

* * *

Later that day Brax stood up as Cassie walked out of the interview room wiping her face, since she was nineteen she didn't need an adult present but was given the option to have Brax or one of her uncle present to which she declined "you okay?" he asked as she sat beside him.

Cassie nodded and wiped her face again "I just have to wait for Georgie to come back so I can sign it."

Brax nodded "your mum and Rubes should be done soon, how about we all head home and watch a movie after it?"

Cassie shook her head and stood up "I want to be on my own…I'm gonna wait in mums office."

"Baby you need to talk to me," he sighed "you can't bottle it all up…tell me what you're thinking-please?" he asked.

Cassie's bottom lip quivered "why are you even talking to me?" she whimpered "I killed Ricky, I saw your face when mum told you she was dead you were gutted…I did that to you!" she cried.

"Cass," he said and reached out for her.

"No!" she yelled and jumped back "I know you hate me! I know you still loved her! I took her away from you!"

"Baby it's not like that," he replied stepping forward quickly.

"You don't have to pretend dad!" she yelled and shoved him away "I know you'll never forgive me for what I've done! I killed someone you love! I should be punished!" she cried and ran out the door.

"Cassie!" he yelled and ran after her "Cassie we need to talk come back!"

"Please dad, I just need to be alone right now!" She called back.

Brax sighed his leg was still bad he wouldn't be able to keep up with her, walking back to the station he pulled Watson aside "can you give Charlie and Ruby a ride home?" he asked.

"Of course…something wrong?" she asked

"Cassie took off, she blames herself for Ricky's death and thinks I hate her, I need to go after her," Brax replied.

Watson nodded "I'll look after them…go on," she said and nudged him towards the door.

"Thanks! And tell Charlie where I'm gone!" he called as he hurried to his car. Pulling away he sighed heavily how could she think he hated her?

Driving along the road he cursed when she was nowhere to be seen, pulling over at the beach he walked to the edge and looked around for her. Spotting her walking quickly up the strip he locked his car and began to follow, he didn't care what anyone said his daughter needed him and he needed her to let it all out.

Catching up to her he slowed his pace as she dropped into the sand, sitting down beside her he pulled her into a hug "nothing you will ever do will make me love you any less."

Cassie burst into tears and held him tight and Brax just held her close-she'd talk when she was ready.

…

A while later Cassie tilted her and looked up at him "I'm sorry," she whimpered.

Brax smiled and wiped the tears off her face "don't ever be sorry for protecting your mum Cass, you did what you had to-anyone else would have done the same thing."

"You're not mad at me?" she asked sitting up properly.

"No baby I'm not, I'm proud of you for the way you held your own and looked after your sister, I know how scared you must have been but you still put Ruby before that," he said and took her hand "and most of all I am proud at how well you fought those guys off in the lot."

"I didn't do a good job did I?" she muttered "they still got me into the van."

"Cass it took two of them to overpower you, I watched the tape if you hadn't tripped over his foot you would have gotten away….you're so strong and brave Cassie Braxton, and don't ever forget that."

Cassie smiled and looked over at him "that's because I have you as my dad, you taught me it all dad," she said and hugged him "I love you so much."

"I love you too baby, more than you will ever know," he said and pulled her closer "you girls are my world I'd do anything for you."

Cassie pulled back and looked him in the eye "are you upset about Ricky?" she asked "because it's okay to be…mum won't take it personally," she added quickly as he opened his mouth to say no.

Brax sighed heavily "yeah it sucks she had to go like that and that I'll never see her again, but I didn't love her the way I used to sure we had our good times and eventually I hoped we could all get along, but she hurt you Rubes and your mum and for that I can't feel upset or sad."

Cassie nodded "how can you just turn your feelings off and not love her anymore?"

"When you have kids you'll understand no bond is stronger than parent and child. If Watson and Jack hadn't put me in the car when those two blokes were brought out I'd have been done for murder."

"I'm sure mum had nothing to do with your feelings," Cassie giggled and stood up "have you talked to mum?" she asked pulling him up "she did kill her own mum after all."

Brax wrapped his arm around her and started to walk "your mum is the love of my life no matter how many women I'm with or how many times we break up she'll always be the one for me, and your mum is just as strong and stubborn as you so I tried but failed. I do know that she had a reason to shoot her mum and you have to understand that her and her mum never had a good relationship."

"I know," Cassie nodded "come on then, lets get home and talk!" she called and ran ahead of him.

* * *

Back at home Charlie sat at the bench by herself staring into her cup, looking up when she heard footsteps she sighed "not now dad, I'm not in the mood."

Tony leaned against the door "I heard what happened with the girls and your mum…I just wanted to know you were all okay."

Charlie nodded without looking up "we're fine and as you can imagine we're all still trying to wrap our heads around it."

Tony nodded "I know, you'll get through this Charlie-you always do, whatever happened to your mum she deserved it…I brought these for you," he added and left flowers on the counter by the door.

Charlie sighed heavily "I killed my own mum dad, what does that make me?"

Tony smiled sadly and walked to her "my strong little solider," he said and wrapped his arm around her. "I don't know what suddenly snapped in your mum but whatever it was turned her evil, you did what you had to and I did warn you what she was up to so you were protecting yourself and your kids."

Charlie nodded and slid off the stood as she heard Ruby come down the stairs "do you wanna stay for a coffee?" she asked.

"Thanks," he smiled "but I better get off I just wanted to make sure you were all okay, I'm meeting a friend for a fishing trip…maybe when I get back?" he asked hopeful.

Charlie nodded again "maybe…Brax and I are back together by the way," she added.

Tony smiled "always knew the two of you were made for each other …give him my regards, bye Charlie," he said and slipped out the back door.

"Who were you talking to?" Ruby asked walking into the kitchen.

"No one," Charlie replied deciding not to tell her he had been here "just the guy that delivered the flowers."

Ruby nodded and walked to them "nice, are they from dad?" she asked.

"No…granddad," she said quickly "they're for us all."

Ruby frowned never in a million years would Charlie say granddad it was always him or Tony "okay," she said slowly and followed her "and I'm not stupid by the way, I know he was here I could hear him and I saw his car," she said and dropped onto the sofa beside her "do you wanna talk about your mum?" she asked.

Charlie smiled and pulled her closer to her "nope, you wanna talk about what happened?"

"Nope," Ruby smiled "we're all okay that's all that matters…desperate housewives?" she asked picking up the remote.

"Until dad and Cass get back," she replied and settled back into the sofa.

"They've been gone a while, do you think she's okay?" Ruby asked a few minutes later.

Charlie nodded "if anyone can get her to talk it's your dad," she said and turned back to the tv.

Ruby nodded "she'll be okay."

….

A while later Cassie and Brax walked into the house "it's too quiet for Ruby being home," Cassie giggled.

Brax chuckled and walked to the living room stopping at the sight of them asleep on the sofa "maybe she talked herself into a sleep," he said and walked to them. Pulling the blanket off the back of the sofa he threw it over them and turned to Cassie "Angelo's for pizza?" he asked.

"Your not going anywhere," Charlie mumbled before Cassie could reply.

"Hey," Brax smiled as she sat up.

"Hey…everything okay?" she asked looking between them.

Cassie nodded "good, I'll be in my room," she added and took off up the stairs.

"How did your talk go?" Charlie asked as soon as she was gone.

Brax sighed and dropped down beside her "she thought I was mad at her because of Ricky's death."

Charlie nodded slowly she thought it was Cassie having to kill someone not that she was worried about what her dad would say "and are you?" she asked casually.

"How can you even ask me that?" he snapped "no I'm not she deserved what happened to her and trust me, she's lucky she died before I got my hands on her," he snapped and walked out to the kitchen.

Charlie sighed heavily and followed him "looks like you're the one that needs to talk," she said leaning against the door.

"Not now babe aye," he sighed without looking at her.

"You're the one that says you shouldn't bottle things up," Charlie said.

Brax swung to face her "I said leave it Charlie! I'll deal with Ricky's death in my own way!" he yelled and stormed out the door.

"Mum what's going on?" a sleepy Ruby yelled from the living room.

"Nothing sweetie, go back to sleep!" she called back.

When she heard Ruby roll off the sofa and make her way upstairs she dropped onto a chair, she knew there was no point in following Brax, he needed time to calm down or he'd either push her away or say hurtful things. Spotting her purse on the counter she leaned over and pulled it to her, opening it she smiled at the pictures of Cassie and Ruby as babies, looking at another of her Brax and the girls she placed them on the counter. Pulling out the final picture she bit on her lip as her eyes filled with tears, it was of her Jack and Peter as kids with their parents and the only picture she had.

Sniffing she wiped her face "I'm sorry mum," she whimpered "you left me no choice, I hope you can forgive me."

Hearing one of the girls make their way down the stairs she grabbed the photos and hurried out the back door-her daughters would not see her cry over a woman who caused her nothing but hurt and pain.

Making her way to her car she pulled out and took off, she was giving herself one opportunity to let it all out before she returned to her family and everything was okay.

* * *

A while later Brax let himself in the back door and dropped his keys on the table "Charlie?" he called and walked to the door "babe you still up?"

"She's not here," Cassie said from the sofa.

Brax looked in to see them both wrapped up on the sofa watching a movie "where is she?"

"Don't know, she took off, she was crying," Ruby replied.

"How long ago?" Brax asked walking back for his keys.

"Few minutes after you took the head off her," Cassie said.

Brax sighed again "I'll be back soon," he said and slipped out the door again.

It's not her fault dad!" Ruby yelled after him.

Shaking his head he climbed into his car and pulled away cursing himself for walking out in the first place.

Locating her car at the beach he pulled in and looked into it, climbing out he spotted her sitting by the water with her knees pulled up to her chest. Grabbing his coat he walked down to her and stopped behind her, watching her sniff and wipe her face he sighed and walked to her. Placing his coat around her he sat down behind her "it's cold out," he said and scooted until she was in his arms.

Charlie leaned back into him but didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry," he said after a few minutes "I had no right to snap at you."

Charlie blew out a breath "we're all hurting it was bound to happen."

"I'm the last person that has any right to be upset, I should be looking after you and my girls," he said and tightened his grip on her.

"Ricky's dead you have every right to be upset…it didn't have to be this way," Charlie replied.

"She chose it to be this way Charlie, she brought this all on herself and hurt everyone in the process. I'm only gonna say this once because I know you're thinking it but you won't say it because you know what my answer will be, I love you with everything I have I never loved Ricky half as much as I love you," he said and kissed her shoulder. "Yes I'm upset she had to die but I'm not upset because I have feelings for her. I'm upset because she did all this to get to me, to get me back, she took my girls away from me to get my attention. I'm upset I didn't see how unstable she was I never thought she'd be capable of something like this."

"You tried Brax it didn't work out, put me and our feelings aside. You went to London after her she left you after you were hit by a car, she didn't come to see you for nearly a full day and that was to tell you she was done with you, she gave up on you and walked away," Charlie said and looked up at him "don't blame yourself for something no one saw coming."

…

Brax pulled her to her feet "it's time I got you home missy, we have two teenagers waiting on the sofa to see us come home."

Charlie pulled him back to her as they reached his car "we'll be okay Brax won't we?" she asked "we're gonna work this time?"

Brax could see the worry on her face, stepping closer to her he slid his hand onto her cheek "babe we're gonna last forever I'll make sure of that. It's different this time, we're older we've been apart for a long time we know what we want now."

Charlie stood on her toes "I just want you," she said and kissed him deeply.

Brax lifted her up and placed her on the hood of his car "you got me, and I," he smirked stepping closer to her "have you exactly where I want you," he murmured and kissed her hard.

As the kiss heated up Charlie lay back on the car and pulled him with her, as Brax ran his hands up her sides he pulled back when he felt something "what's this?" he asked pulling back with the photo.

Charlie sat up properly and chewed on her lip "my dad came to see me earlier-don't freak out," she added quickly as he went to start yelling "he talked about my mum and what happened, he said she deserved it."

"She did," he muttered.

Charlie went on as if she hadn't heard them "then you stormed off and I pulled out the pictures, it all got too much for me and I started to get upset. The girls came down the stairs and just took off…I didn't want them to see me cry."

Brax sighed "babe," he said rubbing her legs "you know you can talk to me about anything, you don't have to hide your tears from me."

Charlie bit on her lip "I killed my own mum Brax, I asked my dad what does that make me and he said his little solider that I did what I had to."

"And he's right," Brax said sitting beside her "you killed her because she was threatening our daughters Charlie and yourself, if you hadn't pulled that trigger it'd have been you and not her."

"Why do I feel so guilty when I know I did the right thing?" she asked.

"Because you're such a kind heart person, Charlie when we were growing up I watched that woman break your heart time and time again. She took the money you'd saved for weeks to buy a new phone, you were so upset so I got you one and she took that because she wanted to hurt you. That ring I gave you she took that too."

Charlie looked down at her finger and smiled "the first thing you ever gave me…I broke into her lockbox for it back," she chuckled "I had to hide it at Bianca's coz I knew she'd tear my room apart looking for it."

"She wasn't supportive when you told her about Cassie," he added "she did everything she could to put you down and your dad wasn't far off it. All he wanted to do was do his own thing make as much money as possible and forget her had kids."

Charlie looked over at him "you know my life sucked before I met you, you were the only one to give me a present for any of my birthdays-well beside Jack making me something in school and Pete buying me something small because he had no money."

Brax chuckled "they did their best," he said and pulled her off the hood "we better go see the girls," he said and walked her to her door "oi," he said tugging her back "I've loved you since we were thirteen and I still love you just as much and don't ever forget that."

Charlie smiled widely and leaned over the door "if I thought you didn't love me back then Cassie wouldn't be here," she giggled and kissed him before climbing into her car "I love ya too, I'll see ya at home," she added before she pulled away.

Brax chuckled and climbed into his car he had never talked as much in his life as he had today.

* * *

Arriving at Charlie's he climbed out and made his way up he drive "whoa!" he yelled when he was tugged to the side.

"Shut up," Charlie giggled as she backed him up against the wall

"What are you doing?" he chuckled.

"Member you used to always do that to me when I'd sneak out to meet you?" she said as she trailed kisses up his neck.

"Yeah but that always led to us having se…oh," he trailed off and looked down on her "here?" he asked "here outside our house?"

Charlie nodded "scared?" she asked biting on her lip.

"No, just making sure," he said and pulled her to him kissing her hard.

Afterwards Charlie giggled as they fixed themselves up before going inside "Brax," she giggled as she pulled her back against him.

"That was amazing babe," he murmured in her ear "remind me to do it more often."

"I have an idea," he said and pulled her down onto the sofa "how's about we all head back to London?"

Charlie frowned "London?" she asked "why London?"

"It has meaning for me," he said and pulled her onto his lap "you came all the way there for me, I kissed you in the lift there and I got to see some sights with my family."

Charlie nodded and thought for a moment "alright then, we'll book it in the morning."

Brax sat forward and kissed her "looks like the girls couldn't wait up, wanna head to bed?" he asked.

"Probably afraid we'd end up yelling and yes, I am so tired," Charlie said and stood up. "Hey Brax?" she said turning on the stairs "first flight outta here?"

"You got it babe," he said and chased her up the stairs.

"You hear that Cass?" Ruby whispered and walked back to her bed "we're going back to London-all off us," she said and climbed in beside her.

"Yes, and act surprised when they tell us…go to sleep," she muttered and closed her eyes.

Ruby lay down and smiled closing her eyes she sighed happily all she'd wanted since Charlie and Brax broke up was the perfect family holiday and now it looked like she was gonna get it.

**A/N hope you enjoyed that, a bit boring I know but I needed something to fill the gap before the final Chapter…see ya soon J**


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